


Young Love

by ADeadlySheep



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Brotherhood!AU, Other, Werewolf Transformation, Werewolf Turning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-07-27 18:44:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 39,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16225061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ADeadlySheep/pseuds/ADeadlySheep
Summary: This was a commission from an anonymous tipper!





	1. One Last Year

**Author's Note:**

> Song Recommendations: blackboard.edu - Arlie / Heartland - Tom Walker / Kathleen - Catfish and the Bottlemen
> 
> Authors Notes (really just what was in the commision):
> 
> Gladio doesn’t have his (to quote Monica) “Green Day rip-off hair”, instead, he’s starting to grow it out into that horrible choice of a mullet.  
> This is senior year for you (the reader) and Gladio.  
> Ignis is your best friend.  
> Noctis and Prompto are freshmen and Ignis is a junior.  
> Gladio got his scar during summer protecting Noctis.  
> This happens right after the events from Brotherhood (ie. after the gif above).  
> This switches P.O.V.’s whenever there is a ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~, not a split like this:

~*September 14*~ 

You gripped onto the straps of your backpack that had been slung over your shoulders. Your gaze scanned the line of cars until your eyes stopped on the large marble walls and pillars that made up the school. Lines of students crowded into the hallways through the multiple double doors.

"One more year."

You took a deep breath, and slowly, you started to take your first steps into senior year. Your senior year. Your final year in this prison before you're shipped off to a school that cost tens of thousands of dollars so you could get a higher education.

One more year.

You could picture it from here: Fighting, backstabbing, awful gossip and trips to the principal over and over for something one of your friends may have said but it was actually another one of your friends. You had a feeling this year wasn't going to be your year at all. To hell with the awful and awkward freshman year, your lazy sophomore year, your crammed and regretful junior year. Senior year may actually be the death of you.

* * *

By the Six, your hair may actually turn gray from how stressed you're going to be.

You heaved a sigh and looked to your feet before you looked back up at the school. The sun was starting to peak over the line of trees and it started to spill amber light into your eyes.

Amber...

Amber and eyes...

You shook your head and tried to clear it. You did not want to get that image in your mind, not here and not now. You couldn't think of him. You wanted to move past this, move past him and what you had with him but especially what he didn't have with you.

You wanted to forget your crush on him, a crush you've had since elementary school.

Slowly, you crossed the courtyard of the school and soon joined in the back of the crowd of students pushing each other into the school. Everyone was moving slowly, they were like zombies, their feet shuffling and scraping against the concrete and bumping into everything and everyone near them. Hell, some of them were even moaning like the damned ghouls. Groans were echoing throughout the crowd as you waded closer to the double doors that held your education and your future.

You, yourself, felt like groaning as soon as the memories from your freshman, your sophomore and your juniors years started to flood back into your mind. Backstabbing, gossip, cliques.

Most of the people in the crowd were complaining that we had to start our first day of school on a Friday only to have a three day weekend. You couldn't agree more, but what could you do? You couldn't do anything, you had no control over the Board of Education for Insomnian schools. Everything was completely out of your hands.

It was high school after all, and this was a part of the process.

You made a promise with your friends that there would be no nonsense, everything would be wiped clean and this year would be a clean slate so you all could grow from mistakes in the past years roaming these halls.

You gripped onto the straps of your backpack tightly as you weaved through the crowd of already sweaty students until you managed to push your way out and pop out in the cafeteria.

The custodians changed the layout of the tables yet again, but you knew where you were going. Your feet automatically carried you through the new rows of tables, your hips dodging the chairs that stuck out and weaved past the students who had already sat down and claimed their morning tables.

Your eyes were set on the wall of trophies, specifically, the football trophies where your friends had already reclaimed the morning tables there. Cheap coffee cups were clung in some of their hands, others held the cheap free breakfast the school offered in the morning until lunch came, and the rest were too busy looking at whatever their phones scrolled to show them to even pay attention to the conversations happening with the rest of the group. Classic teenagers and you were one with them.

"Ready for senior year?" you chuckled as you made your way up to them.

"Oh boy," one of your friends sighed with a roll of their eyes, "yet another year in this hell."

"Wasn't there a thing that Ifrit did? A punishment upon all of us humans?" another questioned.

"Yeah, it was school," the first retorted.

"Makes sense."

"Please don't say the word senior, I feel old and the more you say senior the more old I feel," another one of your friends piped up as they turned their phone camera to their face. "I swear I'm getting wrinkles somehow."

"Isn't that the point of senior year?" you laughed as you swung your bag over your shoulder. The bag smacked against the lunch table as you pulled the chair back and plopped down. "We're supposed to feel old. We survived thirteen to fourteen years of school. We spent most of our lives here and now we're moving on in just one hundred and eighty-odd days."

"Yeah, then we have to go back to school and pay way more for it. We'll be in debt forever."

"That is what a scholarship is for," an accented voice called out from behind you.

A smirk formed on your face as you slowly turned to face the person standing behind you. The familiar pair of seafoam green eyes paired with the thin yet sophisticated pair of glasses was enough to make you stand up from your chair.

"Ignis," you greeted with open arms.

You haven't seen Ignis at all over summer break, his duties to the crown pulled him away and demanded his utmost attention. He barely had any free time, and with that free time, he had to help out his uncle for when he retires and Ignis takes over his role as the royal advisor for Prince Noctis.

"Hello (Y/n)," he greeted as he returned with a tight hug.

You two had been friends since elementary school. The bond between you two was great and was a force to be reckoned with.

"Are you gonna join us at graduation? Or are you taking your sweet time to graduate high school?"

"Taking my time, as usual." His lanky hand moved to push his glasses back by the bottom rims. "Although it would be wise of me to graduate early, I feel as though taking my time here will work out best for me. I would like to graduate with you and Gladio though."

"How is he, anyway? Especially with... what happened?"

"Why don't you ask him?" one of your friends called. "He's been looking at you ever since you came into the cafeteria."

Turning to face your friend that just spoke, you became slack-jawed as you saw they still hadn't moved since you came in. They were still on the chair, both feet pulled up to sit on the seat and their knees up high, their thumbs were swiveling along the screen of their phone.

"How do you know that?" you asked.

"I can see him through my screen when I turn it off."

"You turn your phone off?" you smirked. They finally looked up at you. A brow slowly raised as they turned their head towards you. "I got you to look up from your phone, that's amazing," you laughed.

They rolled their eyes and went back to looking at whatever was on their screen.

"From what I heard from his father and from what he told me, he's doing alright. He did mention he still has phantom pains from it."

"I'd bet. The guy almost got his eye with that bottle."

You slowly turned your head to the side so you could see Gladio out of the corner of your eye.

Gladio was sitting on top of the chair, refusing to use it like a normal person as his feet were on the surface where you should actually be sitting on. His arms were crossed over his knees, one of them was bouncing up and down quickly. He was laughing, you could just hear that dorky laugh from across the cafeteria. It rumbled through his body and was caught in his chest, it was deep and rumbly and gravely.

He slowly looked up only to lock eyes with you. Amber orbs bore into yours, your staring contest slowly brought his smile down. His friends paid no attention to his missing smile and that he was looking straight at you.

"Why don't you go over there and ask?" Ignis suggested as he nodded in Gladio's direction.

You shook your head, knocking you out of your current condition as you turned your head quickly to look at Ignis. He had a thin brow raised, a phantom smirk playing on his thin lips.

"No, I'm good," you stated as you focused on Ignis and not the royal shield that you knew was still staring at you.

"Are you sure?" Ignis smiled. "You two were looking each other dead in the eye. You even made him stop laughing, and that is a feat of its own."

"I said I'm good, Iggy," you huffed.

"No need to become fussy over Gladio staring at you."

"Is he? Is he still staring at me?"

You wanted to look behind you, oh sweet sweet six above you wanted to just turn your head just a bit so you could barely see him out of the corner of your eye.

"He is, but he's speaking to his friends still. I think they noticed him looking at you."

"Why?" you quickly shot at Ignis. "Why is he still looking at me? Why is he still looking in my direction?"

Your heart was starting to flutter out of your chest, your stomach was slowly twisting into the most complicated of sailor knots. Just the thought of Gladiolus Amicita still staring at you after the awkward exchange that just went on was dumbfounding you yet setting alarms off in your mind.

"Should we call the wedding planner and book the happiest day of your soon?" one of your friends called behind you.

Your head shot around and your body turned on a dime. The glare you shot at the group of teenagers made them cackle instead of cower.

You sighed and took this opportunity to peek up at Gladio only to have your stomach sink when you saw he had turned his attention to his friends just as you looked at him.

Ignis held out his hand and you knew exactly what he was asking of you. Digging into the pockets spanning across your clothing, you fished through the fabric holders until you managed to pull out a folded piece of paper. Ignis took it from your grip and quickly opened it while fishing out a similar piece of paper and opening that one up as well. He quickly gazed over them before sighing and handing you back your piece of paper.

"Only lunch together," he sighed.

"Well obviously. You're a junior that's doing CCP. You're only gonna be here until lunch and then you're at whatever college you chose to study in."

"I suppose your right. I was just hoping we would at least have one actual class together instead of lunch. It is your senior year after all. That is last class I will have with you before you graduate."

"It'll be alright Ignis," you smiled. "You even said you could use an assistant when you do become the royal advisor. You'll know where to find me."

"Oogling over Gladio somewhere? Possibly in the woods?" Ignis smirked.

"I dislike you," you squinted at the tawny brunet.

"Hey (Y/n)," one of your friends called as they walked up next to you. "I'm gonna borrow this," they calmly stated as the wiggled the piece of paper out of your hand.

"You don't have to be weird about it," you retorted as you eyed them.

"Don't worry about it."

They soon scurried off, possibly back to the table to check for everyone who had what with someone in the group.

Ignis opened his mouth to say something, but his jaw stalled and his eyes widened a bit.

"What?" you asked as you crossed your arms over your chest.

"That was a mistake to allow them to take your schedule."

"Why?"

"They're taking it to Gladio to try and match schedules."

Your jaw dropped as you whipped your body around once more.

It was too late. You were about to say something, but it was too late. No amount of distractions you could make or diversions you can do to get them to stop wouldn't work as they were now practically in front of Gladio now.

How did they move so fast?

You watched on in horror as they questioned Gladio, motioning the paper in their hands to the royal shield. Gladio just seemed to shrug and fished into his hoodie pocket where his hands had been stuffed in and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and handed it to your friend.

"I can't watch," you whispered as you turned back to Ignis once more that morning. "Tell me what's happening."

"They're uncrumpling that wad of paper," Ignis informed as he eyed the two.

"They're failing... they ended up ripping it a bit... They're looking over his... And now yours... And now both at the same time... And now they're handing it back to him and scurrying back here."

"Did Gladio see my name on the schedule?"

"How would I know? I'm not a daemon with supernatural eye-sight. Why do you think I wear glasses?"

"You don't really need them, Iggy."

"I prefer to wear them." Ignis turned his attention behind you once more to your friend who was now next to you. "Hello again."

"I have good news and I have bad news," they stated as they handed you your schedule.

"What's the good news?" you asked.

They stopped handing you your folded up schedule and squinted at you as they held the folded paper to their chest.

"Wow, you want bad news last? You're supposed to want the bad news first and good news last to cancel out the bad news before the good news."

"Okay, then what's the bad news?"

"Okay, bad news: We only have lunch together."

You deadpanned for a moment. You gave them a tired expression while Ignis cocked a brow.

"Oh no. How will I ever deal only seeing you in the best period of the day?" you asked as sarcasm dripped off every word that slipped past you.

"Could you at least play along and not be an ass?"

You laughed.

"The good news?"

"You and Gladio have a few classes together," they smirked as they watched your every move.

You seemed to perk up upon hearing the good news.

"Really?"

"Yep. Math, history, lunch, and science in that order." Your jaw opened slightly, the corners of your lips wanted to flick up in a smile only winner's show off. They flicked their hand back and dropped your folded up schedule into the palm of your outstretched hand. "You're welcome. I would like to hear how much of an amazing friend I am now, please," they cooed.

"You," you pointed at them, "are the fucking best." They smirked smugly at you, making sure to lift their chin in triumph. "But not as amazing as Ignis."

They deflated a bit, their shoulders sank quickly only to retract and rise up once more to their smug position.

"I can live with that," they huffed before smirking at you once more.

They spun on their heel to return to your friends who were laughing away and cooing over the fact that your crush was still clinging onto you like handcuffs with no key.

"I see it hasn't faded away from you over the summer," Ignis called.

You shook your head. You hadn't noticed you had slipped into a trance and you were staring into space.

"Hey Ignis," you started as you looked at him from the corner of your eye, "there's a thing called dropping it. You know, the bro code? I can lend you a copy of it, you know? I know it very well considering what I have on you and-"

"Don't you dare say her name," Ignis cut you off. He reached up and fixed his button up's collar before smoothing out the purple material. Always formal, always fashionable for Ignis Stupeo Scientia. "And why not lend it Gladio? He loves books, you know?"

"I know," you spat quickly. "I've known since kindergarten that's he's in love with reading."

"And he can read you like an open book!" one of your friends shouted from the table they were all squeezing into.

You spun on your heel one last time to glare at all of the laughing their heads off while pounding at the table. Slowly, people around us had started to look over to you all. Confusion painted their faces as they watched your friends explode with laughter.

You sighed and looked up only to lock up.

He was looking again.

He was looking at you again.

His smile slowly dropped the longer he stared at you.

Your face was burning up the longer his amber eyes bore into you. They were like fire burning bright in the night sky, they were just so bright and warm. Molten amber burned into your mind as you continued to stare back at him.

You gaze moved over to the scar that was permanently etched into his face forever. Just looking at it reminded you of the social media headlines and stories on the news stations all about it.

_'Royal Prince under attack!'_

_'Royal Shield saves Prince from attacker!'_

_'Royal Shield almost loses eye protecting Prince Noctis!'_

Even the images and videos of the attacker and Gladio spread across social media like wildfire.

You could just remember the nightly news broadcast the day after, the hour that was meant for parents after their children went to bed. You could still remember those images and the videos... Just the reporter's monotone voice sent chills up your spine.

But you still looked straight ahead to Gladio as your mind burned the videos into your thoughts once more.

_"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of Insomnia," he drawled on. "As of yesterday, the kingdom has been on edge due to the attack set on the Heir of Eos, Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum, had failed which resulted in the Royal Shield, Gladiolus Amicita, taking the hit instead of the Prince." You could just see the fight happening, the video blurring into your sights as you mindlessly watched Gladio like a hawk. "A man under the influence of alcohol, we will not disclose his name at this time by the order of the crown, attempted to attack the Prince with a broken beer bottle. Upon seeing the man rushing to attack the Prince, the Royal Shield stepped in and stopped the attacker, but not before taking the hit himself." The reporter only stared ahead at anyone who was watching. His icy blue eyes were hollow, his face was sunken and tired, his lips never curled up and the wrinkles only weighed his face down. "The Royal Shield took the hit to his left eye. It was unknown from yesterday if he would lose his eye, but the Royal Shield is in stable condition with both eyes unscathed."_

_"Why wouldn't he fight back?" your friend murmured as they finally looked up from their phone. "He could've saved both Noct and himself from that guy."_

_"Upon questioning the Shield on what happened last night," the reporter called out, "he told police officials that, and I quote, 'Would never dare to harm a single citizen of Insomnia. I'll do my best to make I can avoid as much conflict towards the Prince before I have to use force. The last thing I want to do is to harm a citizen of Insomnia and soil the crown's name.' A brave man he is. Gladiolus Amicita is in stable condition now, resting in Insomnian Central Hospital at this time."_

_You watched on as the video flashed across the screen of a man stumbling up to the Prince who was only joking around with Prompto with a broken beer bottle - it was still dripping with beads of amber liquid. Ignis was on the phone, speaking to most likely his uncle or to council members about something important. Gladio was stuffing a small moogle plushie into his hoodie pocket for Iris no doubt until he caught sight of the man. Gladio rushed forward and Ignis closed his phone as he tried to do the same. The man reeled his hand back and started to charge at the Prince with the bottle raised in the air. Gladio wasn't able to grab the bottle, but he did block the Prince from his view until the bottle came down and slashed at his eye. Ignis came barreling in and shoved the drunk bastard away as Gladio clutched his bleeding gash as Prompto stumbled to grab a tissue from his bag while Noctis tried to get Gladio to sit._

_He was the shield after all... His job was to shield the Prince from harm and protect him at all costs._

_You remembered signing a card for him, people from school flooded the streets and came door to door for Gladio's classmates, asking to sign cards and posterboards and donate money so they could get him flowers and balloons._

_Insomnia was quiet those few days after it happened. Summer felt like winter, it was heavy and depressive and... horrible knowing that someone wanted to do this to an innocent kid and another guy protected him from anything and everything._

_"I never expected that from him, to protect him" they murmured. They turned their head towards you, their eyes were now a seafoam green and not their familiar color. "Remember in middle school when Gladio didn't want anything to do with Noctis because of what happened with Iris?" They asked. You didn't answer, you just stared at the screen ahead of the two of you. "(Y/n)?"_

You shook your head again and looked away from Gladio, your cheeks started to heat up greatly.

"(Y/n)," someone called to you as they shook your shoulder. You turned to them to see Ignis raising a brow. "Staring again?" he smiled.

"Shut up Iggy," you huffed.

"You're blushing."

"Don't you think I know? My face feels like it's on fire."

You moved your hands up to rub your warm cheeks with your cold hands.

"He is too."

You stopped.

Your head shot up.

What did Ignis just say?

"What did you just say?"

"I said Gladio is blushing as well." He pushed his glasses up by the bridge.

"However, it is not as dominant as yours. With him, it's only along his nose. For you, however," he chuckled, "it appears to be everywhere."

You wanted to reel your fist back and punch him in the shoulder so bad right now.

Instead, you looked behind you despite what your gut was telling you to do and smiled. Gladio's nose was a rosy red at the very least. His smile was large as he started to laugh loudly at whatever dumb joke his friends may have told him. He ran a hand through his growing hair and slipped his hat back on and shoving his hands back into the hoodie pocket.

"Is it me or does he look like he's straight from the 80's with that haircut?" one of your friends joked.

"Watch," another one spoke up while raising their hands, "he grows a mullet."

"I would vomit. We need to forget those fashion mistakes."

"Exactly." They turned their attention to me. "Would you date him if he had a mullet?"

"Shut up," you muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

His amber eyes were trained on someone. His vision never faltered, his eyes remained on their form the whole time their free morning dragged on.

He watched on as they glared at their friends, spoke with Ignis, received their folded up schedule from one who compared it to his.

He especially didn't miss when he saw them look back to him and blush.

Just seeing such a sight made his nose heat up just a bit.

His friends didn't miss how his nose went from sun-kissed to almost a pale rose: A telltale sign that Gladiolus Amicitia was blushing, which could only mean one thing...

Two sets of eyes slowly looked to where Gladio's eyes were set to see a familiar person, their back was turned to three of them as their front was turned to a smirking Ignis Scientia.

Their jaws dropped open just a bit in shock... But could they really be shocked by this? Should they be shocked by this? By Gladio staring at them?

The rosy red tinting Gladio's nose hadn't lightened up nor has it darkened as he continued to stare. Instead, it only spread slowly to his cheeks and under his eyes until it met the long scar running into a near-perfect vertical line over his left eye.

Sweat started to bead right under the hat he had classically worn backwards which hid the hair he had finally decided to grow out after years of having the undershave. Sweat lined the facial hair donning his chiseled chin, the small patch of hair was short and freshly cut while the rest of his jaw was clear of both hair and scratches of failed shaves.

The two watched as Gladio kept eye contact with the back of their head, his lips were parted slightly as he was only melting deeper into that... trance he slips into when this happens.

They had to stop this before he started to drool...

One turned to look at the other who just shrugged. They had no idea what to do.

The first turned his head back to Gladio and cleared his throat.

"Still staring at 'em?" one of his friends laughed as they turned their full attention to Gladio.

Gladio shook his head and turned his attention to his friends that were standing there watching him.

This has never happened until Gladio actually met (Y/n) in middle school as they had to sit next to each other in science class when you came to school late on the first day. Ever since then, it's happened ever since. It happens everywhere too: In the halls, outside of school, if and when he sees you at the mall, on the streets or in a cafe, or in (the most common place for it to happen) school.

"So what?" Gladio asked as he smirked over at his friends. "I can't stare at anyone but you can gawk at every chick with big butts all the time and get away with it? What kind of world is this?"

"I didn't say that," he snorted as he clapped the back of his hat off of his head. "I'm just saying, usually you don't stare at the people you wanna ask out for this long. You usually eye them down the first day and go for it. But, you know, you've been staring at (Y/n) for... Hmm, how long has it been?" he moved a tanned finger up to his chin and tapped the scratchy surface before he started to play with the small facial hair. "Let's see we're in senior year, you've had a crush on (Y/n) since eighth grade when she was placed right next to you in science." He spun on his heel to look at another one of the friends. "How long is that, by the way? How long has lover boy over here been in love with (Y/n)?"

"Five years," the other friend laughed as he spun the football in his hands.

"So five years," he spun back to look Gladio right in the eyes. "Five years you have been crushing on (Y/n) and not once in those five years have you spoken to 'em or dropping 'em hints or anything."

"Remember when he was in the hospital for that cut on his eye? When he saw (Y/n)'s name on the large ass posters people brought you? He didn't look away from that name until the nurses brought him his dinner."

"I'm glad I'm out of there," Gladio groaned as he ran his hands over his face. "The food was awful."

"Even with your five-star luxury?"

"All hospital food is awful, even if I am the Royal Shield. When Noctis had that leg injury, he even told me how awful the food was. Ignis snuck him some actual food and I took care of what they gave him."

"Stop dodging the question, Glad, and tell us why you haven't asked 'em out yet," the first friend pushed.

"I'm nervous, alright?" Gladio pushed back as he picked up his fallen hat and plopped it on back on top of his head. "I'm nervous they'll just see me as a player or that someones gonna say some shit that throws me in a bad light or..."

"You're worried about (Y/n) not liking you?" Gladio nodded and shoved his large hands into his hoodie pocket once more. "That's a first. I don't think I've ever seen you this nervous."

"I've seen him nervous," the second friend piped up.

"No, you haven't."

"Yes, I have!" He placed the football down on the table and faced the first friend.

"It was back in seventh grade! Gladio-"

"Anything with Iris or Noctis or Ignis doesn't count. That's his job to protect those people," the first friend cut in as he pointed to the second friend.

"I wasn't going to say Iris and Noctis," the second friend scoffed as he smacked away the hand in front of his face. "I was talking about in seventh grade, the dentist didn't know if he should give Gladio braces or not. And Gladio was worried that braces would mess up his manly ego and he wouldn't be able to ask out any of the girls to anything anymore."

"I thought I told you not to bring that up?" Gladio questioned as his eyes narrowed in on the second friend.

"I had to prove my point!"

"Your dentist almost gave you braces?" the first one laughed.

"Yeah," Gladio sighed with a smirk. "Glad he didn't though."

"Yeah, you're manly ego you've been building up since kindergarten must stay strong. Braces will only make you look weak," the second friend mocked as he picked up the football. "You know, braces aren't a thing most middle-schoolers get."

"Shut up, my teeth are fine," Gladio laughed.

"Your nose isn't fine though, it's still red," the first friend pointed out with a nod of his head.

"I know," Gladio sighed.

"Are you gonna fix it?"

"How? Splash warm water on my face?"

"No," he snorted as he punched Gladio in the arm. "Go over there and ask them out."

"They barely know me besides from what they get from Ignis."

"You didn't learn anything from them during that whole year you sat next to 'em in science?" Gladio shook his head and eyed his friend down. "Then go introduce yourself to them for fuck's sake! Stop being so awkward! It's not like you at all and it's kinda weird."

"You never been in love?" the second friend snickered.

"I have," the other sputtered out, "but that's not what I meant! I meant this! The staring, the blushing, the awkwardness... It's not like Gladio, it's all just that mushy puppy love bullshit that Hallmark pours out to every girl and old crazy cat lady!" He mulled over the words that just came from him. "And nerds. Them too."

"It's young love, not puppy love. You're making him sound like he's some lost chocolate lab or something that's looking for their long lost love. ANd besides, Ignis is a nerd and he doesn't watch Hallmark at all."

"How would you know?"

"Because I told him," Gladio shrugged. "But Prompto does."

"Prompto Argentum? That blond kid that hangs out with the prince all of the time?"

"Oh yeah, that kid. He watches it all the time," Gladio stated. He slipped himself down from the head of the uncomfortable chair to the actual seat and leaned back, his hands still remained in the pocket of his hoodie. "He even has an advantage: His parents are never home."

"Never?"

"He barely sees them. He tells us that he'll only see them for a few hours on the weekends and then they're gone. He's free to do whatever the fuck he wants to do while they work or go somewhere or do something."

"So they only come home to practically sign shit, pay bills and put away groceries before they leave?"

"And then the whole house is to Prompto so he can watch all the Hallmark he wants and so he can cry freely."

"He told you this?"

"Me, Noctis and Ignis."

"Let me ask it this way: He trusted you enough to tell you this?"

"Yeah," Gladio stated with an unemotional face. Gladio raised a brow and smirked. "His favorites are the Christmas ones."

"You're bullshitting us."

Gladio shrugged and put his hands up.

"I'm telling the truth." His hands fell down to his sides. "I bet that if you pass him while talking about Hallmark movies, especially the Christmas ones, that he'll start talking about it too. But watch, if you either say the wrong name of the actor or actress, or you can't remember their name, Prompto will correct you. Trust me."

"I don't know if you're joking or if this is actually true."

"Only one way to find out," Gladio chuckled.

The first friend shot up and glared at the second friend.

"How did we get from Gladio blushing about (Y/n) to wanting to know if Prompto really watches Hallmark movies?" he snapped.

The bells started to ring, echoing down the halls and blaring over everyone as they tried to talk over the alarms. Suddenly, everyone in the lunchroom stood up and the screeching of the chairs' metal legs scratching against the tiles became louder than the dismissal bells going off above the students' heads. The waves of students started to file out of the lunchroom, somehow managing to crowd up and cram into the maze of hallways. People started shoving and screams and shouts popped up.

There was no doubt a fight was going to start on the first day of school. Gladio could just picture it: It would be ugly, hands smacking against skin, they would spit at each other and fists would fly. Gladio could just point it out who it was going to be.

Gladio heaved a sigh as he grabbed his bag and swung one of his arms through the straps and rested the backpack on one of his broad shoulders. He slowly stood up from the chair and looked down at his friends who were just a few inches shorter than he was.

"Distractions," Gladio stated with a confident smirk spreading across his face.

"Just ask 'em out," the second friend sighed as he slung his own bag over his shoulder.

"I will," Gladio laughed as he, once again, stuck his hands into his pockets. "Just not now."

And with that, Gladio's long legs started to carry him towards the shrinking crowds of tired students and joined in the back of the wave. His head was poking up from the crowd, sticking out like a sore thumb to his friends who were still standing back at the table, both of their faces were blank as they watched their friend walk off until he turned a corner.

"Five years," the first friend sighed.

"That's the longest he ever waited to date someone," the second added as he spun the rough football in his hands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Time just seemed to drag on forever. Math was tiring, history was boring, English was repetitive, lunch was the highlight of anyone's day, and science was perplexing. You were not looking forward to any of those classes on top of your electives. You simply just wanted to crawl back into your house, creep underneath the covers of your bed and go back to sleep.

But you couldn't do that.

You had an education to finish!

Your feet dragged you down the crowded halls, you weaved through smelly bodies of both good smells and bad smells. You had somehow gotten through the waves of people without a scratch or scrape or bruise as you popped out from the edge of the crowd right in front of the door to your homeroom.

Upon entering, just the fake smile the teacher gave you made you feel as if lead was replacing your blood.

* * *

Fake excitement. That's all it was today. Fake excitement and syllabuses and slideshows about their lives. How old they were, how many kids they had, what their houses look like with a teacher's salary and their dogs.

One teacher had just gotten a bulldog puppy that you wanted to steal from her house. Oh, how you wanted to snatch that adorable thing up.

At least that was the only highlight of your day...

In math, Gladio sat with his two friends. In English, there were assigned seats so he sat on the opposite side of the room. You didn't have English or any electives with Gladio, sadly.

And there you were, sitting at your claimed lunch table with Ignis and most of your friends. Conversations were muffled over more conversations, chairs were screeching and groaning, tables were being banged on while the cheap plastic food trays scratched against the lunchroom tables. Sweaty teenagers were joking and cackling while others were buried deep with their noses in their phones. The smells of cheap lunchroom food provided to the school from Six knows where mixed with the scents of packed lunches. Just sitting across from Ignis made you wanna chuck your lunch away and just stare at his homemade - and possibly gourmet - food.

"How were your classes with Gladio?" Ignis asked as he didn't look up from his food.

"Boring. He either sat with his friends or we had to sit apart," you grumbled as you forced your plastic fork into the lunch before you.

"I do not know how to help this," Ignis sighed before he took a bite of his food.

"Just talk to him," one of your friends stated before biting into her sandwich.

"Just ask for him snapchat or his instagram or something," another stated with a mouth full of salad leaves.

"I can't just ask that randomly and out of nowhere," you stated as you placed your fork down onto the tray.

Deep laughter erupted from behind and it only grew closer until it stopped behind you. You knew that laughter, and by the way Ignis looked up to eye the people behind you, you could just tell it was him.

The chairs behind you screeched and scraped against the tiles behind you as three trays had been tossed onto the table.

All of your friends eyed you and stared, smirks forming on their faces as they simply chewed their food.

"Stop that," you glared.

Ignis swallowed whatever was in his mouth and calmly stated, "Gladio isn't that type of teenager that will spread rumors about you if you fail to ask him for his number, (Y/n). I've known him for years." Ignis eyed his food before smiling. "He mentioned you in our literature class," he murmured.

"Literature?"

"Gladio is not all brawn. He trains his mind as much as he trains his body. He fancies older books or books of historical fiction, although he enjoys fantasy and suspense too."

"That's actually shocking," one of your friends stated as they stared at Ignis.

"His backpack is filled with books already. He made sure to stop at the library before school to get some."

You hummed and nodded as your lips pursed. You picked up your plastic fork once more and jammed it into your food before lifting it up to your mouth.

The lunchroom conversations blurred together and blared in your ears as you tried to exchange small talk with Ignis for the remainder of the period until the bells had started to go off.

* * *

Somehow, you had made it to your last period without a fight, argument or threat. It was a miracle considering some of the people you were stuck with in class for nearly an hour. It was as if the Astrals were watching over you today... Hopefully, they'll keep watching over you for the rest of the year and protect you from them.

Your feet brought you to a halt in front of the classroom door. You quickly glanced at your schedule before looking back up at the number imprinted in the wood of the door. Nodding with a sigh, you slipped the paper into your pocket and slid into the room.

You groaned internally as you saw some of the students you were supposed to share chemistry with, most of them were the ones that you knew were going to try and test you over the school year. You huffed and made your way to an empty set of desks as you started to wonder where they were.

At least you had a class with one friend... But where were they?

A minute had passed and they were not to be found. You spent it searching through your bag quickly as soon as you sat down you didn't even notice the items placed on the desk before you. As soon as you popped your head up to look at the doorway, that's when you noticed everything.

Your eyes rolled over a large liquid measuring cup, a large cylinder that was marked with the ingredient 'Borax', a roll of thick white string, two pairs of new scissors, a stack of clear plastic cups, two measuring teaspoons, a box of popsicle sticks, and a box of pipe cleaners. You looked up to only see every table had these ingredients lying on top of their surfaces, all of them were in the same order as the stuff before you: Neatly piled together and taking up as little space before you on the table. However, something was different about most of the other materials on other's desks.

Some of the liquid measuring cups were full, steam pouring out from the large opening as the glass had steamed up and clouded. Looking up, you saw the teacher hunched over something, his khaki pants pressed flat and his green collared shirt tucked in with the long sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Steam was pouring from whatever he was hunched over, the steam making his balding head sweat and shine between the graying brown hairs.

"Don't touch anything on the desks," he called out as he cranked a dial in front of him. "We're doing an experiment."

He sounded like an old scientist... Well... He was an old scientist... At least his voice fits the part.

You nodded and watched on as he stirred something before him with a wooden spoon.

More people started to file in as the last minute crept down to mere seconds before the bell would ring. Seats around you filled up and your friend was still not here.

"Where are you?" you murmured.

You tugged your backpack up and placed it on the seat next to you, occupying it so nobody would sit down.

"If your water cools off, let me know and I'll heat it back up," your teacher stated as he reached out and snapped the dial shut. He lifted something up and turned to face the crowd of students. "It's important for the experiment!"

A large pot was held in his hands, a thick plaid towel was wrapped around the handle as steam poured out from the top.

He had a wrinkling face, no blemishes or beauty marks. His stormy gray eyes were pulled back in excitement as he shuffled around the room. He was obviously excited to do this apparently. However, something caught your eye: He had a long scar running along his left cheekbone, it was pale white against his tanned wrinkly skin.

He came up to your table and smiled at you before turning the pot and let the boiling liquids pour into the liquid measuring cup before he pulled away and stopped the liquid from falling.

"Does that say two cups?" he asked you.

Peering down, you saw the water was just above the red line. You simply nodded and resumed rummaging through your backpack as the teacher simply nodded and walked to the next table.

Suddenly, the loud bell rang and caught you off guard. You flinched as you were rummaging and ended up stabbing the palm of your hand into something sharp. You reeled your hand away and shook it before smearing the small droplet of blood across your palm.

With a sigh, you tossed your bag onto the wooden planks and leaned back in your chair as you eyed the room. Two seats were left empty: One for your friend and one for Gladio.

"As I said before, don't touch anything on the desks. We're doing an experiment," the teacher repeated as he placed the now empty pot onto the warm burner. He balled the plaid towel up and wiped at his face and dabbed away the sweat that beaded his forehead. He looked around the room. "Is this all? I was told the last period would be full." And just on cue, the two burst through the classroom door. Your friend was panting and Gladio wasn't phased. "I know that you were in the nurse," he stated to your friend. They quickly nodded and ran straight to the empty seat... not next to you. "But for you Mr. Amicita, I was expecting more from you."

"I'm sorry, sir," Gladio grumbled out as he kept his hands in his hoodie pocket.

"Being the shield for the next king is a big responsibility to pull at you, but school and your education is your responsibility when you walk through those doors." He still didn't look up to Gladio as he filed through papers. "Take a seat."

Your phone vibrated in your pocket, and as you pulled it out, you saw it was them.

'I'm doing this for you. The seats aren't assigned here, so if this tanks, I'll come back there ;)'

"I hate you so much," you murmured as you glared at them sitting across the room from you.

The sound of Gladio's bag hitting the ground shot you right out of your disbelief, your head shook and you rubbed at your eyes.

"The day's been long, hasn't it?" Gladio laughed as he sat down on the seat next to you.

"When is it never long?" you sighed.

A laugh rumbled out from Gladio's chest.

"Alright class!" the teacher exclaimed as he moved to the front of the classroom.

"We're doing a first-day experiment!" He picked up a new piece of chalk and pressed it to the already dirty chalkboard and started to scribble on it. "Borax crystal snowflakes! A perfect experiment for this three day weekend!"

"Yipee," Gladio grumbled as he sat back in his chair.

You shot him a glance and smirked at his emotionless face.

A series of numbers was drawn on the board vertically down, there were six numbers. The teacher had the piece of chalk, he rolled it in his hands as he eyed around the room with a smile plastered on his wrinkled face. He turned to the board and raised the piece of chalk.

"Follow directions carefully, if you forget, then look up to the board for help," he stated calmly.

Gladio eyed you.

"Do you really wanna do this?" he smirked.

"No, but there's no doubt about it that there may be a grade on this for participation," you rolled your eyes.

Gladio scoffed and shook his head.

"There always is," he groaned softly.

"First, take a few pipe cleaners - don't go overboard with them please - and twist them together to form your little snowflake." You eyed the box of pipe cleaners sitting before you two. "You can make it any size you'd like, just make sure it can fit in the plastic cups I supplied you all with."

The sound of chalk hitting the blackboard echoed in the room as soft murmurs between everyone as boxes had started to open. Gladio nodded to the box.

"You go first," he offered.

You inhaled and reached over and slipped six small white pipe cleaners out from the box before nudging it over to him. Slowly, you curled and twisted the wiry sticks into a small snowflake - or something that kind of looked like a snowflake - before you set it before you. You just peeked over to look at Gladio's only to snort.

That did not look like a snowflake or a star at all.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up," Gladio rolled his eyes as a chuckle left his lips, "I'm not good at this kind of stuff. You would think with a little sister I was, but I'm not."

"At least you tried," you laughed.

"Second, cut off a small piece of string. Try to make it at least five inches (or thirteen centimeters) long and tie it to one of the edges of your snowflake," the teacher instructed as he shortened it up on the board before him.

Gladio took the roll and handed you the end of the white string.

"Cut it, I'll hold it for you."

You reached out and took a pair of the clean scissors and rolled out the string, pulling it out so far before snipping it. You handed Gladio the end of the overly-long string which he took while putting the spool down. Estimating where the middle was, you quickly snipped in the center and tied your piece to one end of the snowflake while Gladio did the same with his.

"Now, take one popsicle stick and tie the untied end around it in the center," the teacher stated.

Gladio reached out and slipped two popsicle sticks out from the small box and handed one to me. Smiling, you slipped it from his hand and started to tie the loose string to it, making sure to wrap it around a few times so it would dangle in the water and not sink to the bottom.

"This is a craft for a child," the guy next to you stated as he struggled to knot his string.

The girl beside him snatched up the poorly-made snowflake and managed to tie the string into a knot with her pointed acrylic nails.

"Now, add one cup of water to each of your plastic cups and stir in 4 teaspoons of borax until it dissolves."

Reaching out, Gladio handed you a cup and smiled. His amber eyes bore into your face, a blush was burning under the skin of your cheeks and nose. Slowly, you took the cup from him and set the cup down before you as Gladio reached out, snagged a cup for himself from the stack and dragged the large measuring cup until it was between us.

"Let me guess, you pour and I hold?" you questioned as you cocked an eyebrow.

"You took the words from my lips," he smirked.

"I must warn you," the teacher's voice called out - it cut through the trance you must have gone in as you shook your head to clear it - "the water is hot, most of it I had just boiled. Please be careful!"

He had resumed his writing on the chalkboard with his weird handwriting. It was a mixture of sloppy and neat, some letters were capital but small and some were lower-cased and big.

Gladio simply lifted the measuring cup and slowly poured the steaming liquid into the cup as you held it. Your hands were starting to burn through the plastic until Gladio pulled away and stopped the liquid from falling before he nudged his empty cup towards me. You held it with both hands and scrunched them up so they wouldn't burn as much. Quickly, his cup filled up and the liquid measuring cup ran dry with only a few drops clinging to the warm glass.

"You okay?" he laughed. "Burned yourself?"

"It's hot," you stated as you eyed him.

Your phone vibrated in your pocket but you ignored it. No doubt that it was them. You could basically see them staring at the two of you, a grin spreading across their face. Their words were practically forming in your head.

You hadn't even realized Gladio was stirring the borax into the hot water with his measuring spoon.

You quickly grabbed the cylinder of borax and measured out what you needed and kept stirring until the water was murky. You couldn't see the bottom of the cup.

You rested the wet and steamy spoon on the table next to Gladio's which had been placed down a little bit ago.

"Step five!" the teacher exclaimed as a smile spread across his wrinkly face.

"Take the snowflake you made by the popsicle and submerge it into your cup of dissolved borax. Make sure you balance it so the popsicle stick won't fall into the water. We don't want the stick to become crystalized!"

It was as if you were all in unison as we all lifted up your "snowflakes" and lowered them into your cups, balancing it in the middle and watching it soak up the borax slowly.

"And now we wait," Gladio sighed contently as he sat back in his chair again.

His hands retreated to the pockets of his hoodie once more.

"How long though?" you asked.

"And now we wait!" the teacher smiled as he quickly wrote next to the number six. "Until Tuesday then!" He reached onto his desk and retrieved a few rolls of drafting tape and came to the first table he spotted. "Write your names on these so when we come back, you can take these home!"

"So we are in kindergarten?" Gladio questioned as he cocked a thick eyebrow.

* * *

You waded through the crowd. Shoulders smacked into you, bags assaulted your body and it felt like the air was being knocked out of you every time something came into contact with you. Just the awful smell of most of the jocks and druggies was enough to make you want to hurl.

Every single noise became one mushy sound that was muffled in your ears as you pushed through on your way home after a long day at school. Your hands still throbbed slightly, they were still heated from the burns from the hot water against the plastic your hands covered.

You just got over it. You've dealt with this for three years and this is your final year in this hell hole. Just go with it all, forget it and block it out, it's not worth your time or worth your effort to even care. Just get through it every single day for about one-hundred and seventy-nine more days and you will be free to do whatever you want with your life.

You prefer to think of that timer, the sound of it ticking over all of this noise. You could just hear it ticking away in your ear, distracting you from everyone around you so much that a small smile had spread across your lips.

Until... something shouted out from the distance. It was distant, you almost didn't catch it.

"Do you need a ride home?" someone called out.

You just brushed it off, your mind was wandering somewhere and you felt like indulging it today after everything that had happened. You could feel it still: You were lost in that sea of bright, glowing amber and your ears were still ringing with that deep, earthy chuckle that would slip past his smiling lips. You could still hear it over the chaos of the first day of school finally ending, over everyone shouting and people banging into the metal lockers that lined the blandly-painted brick walls.

"(Y/n)!" someone called over the chaos.

It caught your attention. You stopped, you were outside in front of the roads and curves of the sidewalks. It was as if the noise had stopped too. You looked behind to the crowd of excited and tired students pushing past you so they could go home or Astrals knows where... Until he pushed through.

He was laughing and his eyes trailed to you as his friends slapped his hat back onto his head.

"Do you need a ride home?" he asked.

"No," you shook your head as you smiled, "I'm alright. I'm heading to a friend's later though."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." You nodded a bit and grabbed a hold of the straps on your backpack and watch as his shoulders seemed to sink and his eyebrows raised. He seemed shocked. "But don't you have to pick Iris up from elementary school?"

"She didn't start today. They start Tuesday."

By now, the crowd around us had thinned to only the stragglers: The students with either no ride, the ones not wanting to return home to their families or the ones who had to wait to be picked up. It just left the two of you standing there.

"Why do you want to give me a ride?" you questioned.

Gladio shrugged and hoisted his bag up his shoulder as it had started to slip.

"I don't know," he stated. "I just figured that... I mean- I just..."

"Is thee Gladiolus Amicita at a loss for words?" You let out a fake gasp as you placed your hands on your hips. "I guess I should be honored then!"

"Stop that," he chuckled as he slipped his hat off of his head. He ran his thick fingers through the locks that he had decided to grow out, making sure he brushed the hair back along the curve of his skull before placing his hat back on top of his head. "I... want to get to know you more," he stated as he kept eye contact with you.

"Really?" you cocked a brow.

"I do. I really do." He placed his hands back into the pocket of his hoodie. "Iggy told me just to be direct with you. He really knows you and I trust him on this."

"Well, you're right to listen to him."

"You can never go wrong with specs," Gladio laughed as he looked the ground.

He quickly looked back up at you.

"Well, where do we go from here?"

Gladio licked his bottom lip and looked at me from the corner of his eye.

"How about I give you my number," he stated as he slipped his cellphone from his pants pocket, "and you text me later when you're not at your friend's house or when you're not doing homework or... whenever."

"Are you just gonna stay up until I text you?"

"No..?" he questioned as he squinted at you.

You both erupted into a small fit of laughter, his hearty chuckle rang in your ears and filled your stomach with fluttering butterflies. His teeth were white and straight, his eyes were squinted and full of happiness. He looked happy and alive unlike most of the other teenage population.

"I promise to text you as soon as I get home from their house," you stated as you slipped your phone out from your pocket.

"Perfect." You had no idea how he was able to type his number in and his name but he did, and it was now saved into your phone until further notice. "I hope to hear from you soon," he winked.


	2. A Rumor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Recommendations: Lampshades On Fire - Modest Mouse / 25 Reasons - Louis Berry / I’ve Been Blind - The Fratellis
> 
> A Reminder of Authors Notes (really just what was in the commision):
> 
> Gladio doesn’t have his (to quote Monica) “Green Day rip-off hair”, instead, he’s starting to grow it out into that horrible choice of a mullet.  
> This is senior year for you (the reader) and Gladio.  
> Ignis is your best friend.  
> Noctis and Prompto are freshmen and Ignis is a junior.  
> Gladio got his scar during summer protecting Noctis.  
> This happens right after the events from Brotherhood.  
> This switches P.O.V.’s whenever there is a ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~, not a split like this:

~*September 25*~

_“We have breaking news. Earlier tonight on September twenty-fourth, there have been sightings that tie into the stream of destruction and murder in Central Insomnia. There have been multiple sightings and reports of a large dog that lies responsible for the crime, other victims that had freed themselves from the carnage said it was a mountain lion that may have escaped from the Insomnian Zoo. Currently, no break-outs have been reported from the zoo nor from animal shelters and rescue locations.”_

* * *

_“Police are calling for a curfew after the mass animal attack last night, coding this as a 10-91V or a vicious animal in the presence of Central Insomnia. The curfew will start at nine o'clock every night and it will stay in effect until this wild animal is caught and detained. Any Insomnian citizen found on the streets by police will be escorted back to their homes and receive a fine up to five hundred gil.”_

* * *

_“The number of mutilated bodies continues to pile up tonight, raising the number from six dead to twenty-two. Police are putting up rewards for any experienced hunter who is willing to find this wild animal and stop it in its tracks before it kills again. Anyone who whas any tips or knows the exact location of the animal is advised to call 9-1-1 immediately and wait for police, animal control and the hunters before approaching the animal. Any helpful tip will come with a one-hundred gil reward for the caller. The current bounty on this animal’s head has been raised from three-thousand gil to seven-thousand gil.”_

* * *

_“Five hours after the massacre in Central Insomnia and the pile of bodies continues to grow, ranking this the worst animal attack in all of Eos. The Citadel is on full-guard and police and hunters are patrolling the streets tonight both in search for the animal responsible as well as many missing people. Anyone found outside will be escorted either back to their homes or to the closest police station to await dawn so they can be released into safety.”_

~*~

_“Local Insomnian schools are closed today after a principal for the high school was found mutilated right outside of the doors. Cameras showed Principal Morrison walking up to the doors with keys in hand until the animal jumped out from the bushes and attacked him before running off into the night. It is unknown how long the Central Insomnian schools will be shut down, the department of education is staying silent now. In the meantime, animal control has been attempting to identify the exact animal that is responsible for all of the bodies. Right now, the hypothesis is that the animal is a wolf, a mountain lion or a coyote.”_

~*~

_“Many reports of the locals are claiming that the animal was not an animal at all, instead, they were saying it was a very large male. Police are taking into consideration everything that they can to track down the animal responsible for the mutilations of thirty-five Insomnian citizens as well as four tourists believed to be from Altissia. Until this animal is caught, anyone trying to come into Insomnia for vacationing will be denied to help protect as many as the police can. The bounty that was placed on this animal’s head had been raised by ten-thousand gil, setting the bar to seventeen-thousand gil for any hunter or group of hunters that manages to take this animal down.”_

~*~

You looked to your phone sitting in on the coffee table before you before looking back up at the flickering television screen sitting a few feet from your face. Swiping your phone up from the wood, your thumbs swiveled until you finger tapped on Ignis’ number. Raising to your ear, you begged and pleaded that he would answer.

One ring…

Two rings…

Three rings…

“(Y/n),” he greeted.

His voice was low, he must’ve been asleep when you were calling.

“Ignis, what’s going on? What is that thing?” you softly asked as you sat back against the couch cushions.

“To be frank,” he paused, “I don’t know. Nobody knows what it is. Not the police, not the hunters, not animal control or the zoos and shelters. They’re bringing in scientists, specialized hunters, apparently experts from Altissia and Lestallum.”

“Experts on what?”

“I don’t know either. They won’t tell myself, Gladiolus, Noctis or Prompto.”

“Prompto’s there?”

“Noctis had training with Gladiolus and they were going to do their homework here… but then that happened and they won’t let him return home.”  
“I get why with him, he lives right where it happened.” You looked to your feet resting under your thighs. “Are you safe there? All four of you? The King? Your uncle? Everyone?”

“Yes, we’re safe here. You don’t need to worry about us, (Y/n).” Ignis cleared his throat. “Would you like me to ask if someone can escort you here if you are feeling nervous?”

“No, I’m fine, I don’t live by there, I should be fine.” You ran a hand through your hair, your nails scraping against your scalp. “I’m guessing Noctis can’t crack his father into telling him?”

“No, because he’ll panic and he’ll tell Prompto and then Prompto will panic and he’ll tell someone and the chain will happen where it’s all over social media and then all of Insomnia will be in a massive panic.”

You leaned your head back against the cushions of the couch.

“What do you think is happening, Ignis? What do you think it is?” you hummed.

“I don’t think it’s an animal or man at all, I think it’s a daemon.”

“But Insomnia’s lit up all over at night,” you retorted.

“A bulb could’ve broke, a short fuse, a wiring issue. If there is any splotch of darkness on the roads, even the smallest of daemon will crawl from the ground and will rampage into the city.”

You thought about his words, staring at the wall to your left and bit your lip.

“Do you really think so?”

“Do you see anymore carnage? They’re only finding bodies now. The sun is starting to come up, there haven’t been anymore cited attacks. It is gone now.”

You looked to the ground and stayed quiet.

It did make sense the more you started to think about it. No wolf or mountain lion or coyote can do that and no human being could do that either! It had to be a daemon!

“I guess you’re right,” you hummed.

“Don’t say that now, it is just a hypothesis, I could be proven wrong,” he chided.

“When does that ever happen?”

Ignis chuckled softly over the phone.

“I have to let you go, a couple of cans of Ebony and important documents are waiting for me and I’m sure a good breakfast is waiting for you.”

“Alright Ignis, goodbye.”

“Goodbye (Y/n).”

With a press of your finger the call had ended with a few short beeps. As you reeled your phone away from your ear, it vibrates. Cocking a brow, you saw a text message start to slide down as a banner. Smiling, you saw Gladiolus’ name.

‘Are you okay? Are you safe there at home?’

You smiled at his text message, curling your legs closer to you, you raised your phone closer to your body as your fingers started to swivel from word to word on the screen.

‘I’m fine, I’m safe. Is it as hectic as I think it is over there?’

You waited a minute, he hadn’t responded. You grew curious, but as you were about to do the dreaded double text, you saw that he was typing.

‘More hectic than you can imagine. I have to watch over Noct and Prompto and keep an eye on my sister for my dad.’

Your jaw dropped.

‘Your sister’s there?!’

‘Yeah, she is. She came with me because she wanted to see Noct like always.’

‘Looks like some little girl has a crush ;3’

‘You stop that.’

You laughed at his protectiveness. It was adorable that he took care of Iris and made sure she was safe all the time. You remembered when her and Noctis were out in the dark a few years ago. You could just see the worry on his face as he tore apart the Citadel looking for her.

‘What do you think it is? That’s doing all of this?’

Gladio started to type, but then he stopped. He started once more, but stopped again until…

‘I don’t know. And that’s what scares me.’

‘Ignis thinks it’s a daemon.’

‘Yeah, he told me. But I don’t think so.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘The lighting never fails, it’s always kept up to date and it’s always watched. If it was a power surge or power outage, we would’ve known. Nobody reported a lighting problem last night, just that… thing.’

You sighed. Your faith in Ignis’ theory was fading. You knew he was right: Don’t place all of your faith in a hypothesis.

‘I should let you go, you have a sister to look after and a prince to protect c:’

‘I promise I’ll let you know anything when I find out if Iggy doesn’t get it to you first.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Stay safe. Call me if something comes up and I will get an escort for you, I promise.’

‘Thank you, Gladio :3’

You sighed and turned your phone off, tossing to the side of you and watched it bounce on the cushions before settling against the material.

Just as you were about to stand, your television screen blackened before it flashed with white words on the screen.

‘Stay tuned for an emergency broadcast.’

You sat still and snatched up your phone, waiting for a call or text from anyone. Your phone vibrated again. It was Ignis.

‘Watch the tv asap.’

You looked up at the screen and watched as the white lettered flickered before going dark. It quickly cut to the news, a man sat there, it was the same man that reported on Gladio’s saving of the prince. He had the same clothes on as the last time you saw him on your screen.

_“Ladies and gentlemen of Insomnia, we have breaking news.” It felt like his ice blue eyes were trained on you, his tried, wrinkled face was just enough to set the timid mood. “We finally have footage of the animal rampaging through Insomnia from last night from a hunter’s phone.” The screen cut to fit the field of view, standing tall with black on both sides, there was a phone video. “There has been nothing confirmed about what this is, but we promise you all that we will get to the bottom of it and keep you all safe. Until then, stay in your houses, obey the curfew and wait this out.”_

The video started to roll. The phone shook, the camera pointed to the sidewalk. Snuffling and snarling came from right behind the camera as the hunter panted and gasped, his boots scraping against the sidewalk as he ran. He brought the phone up and the footage stopped before it rolled again, this time, it was facing the hunter’s sweaty face. Lifting the camera up more, the thing was revealed. And then, the footage stopped.

You sat back and clutched your phone close to your chest.

It looked like a monster straight from the silver screen. It was huge and hairy, a muzzle with large teeth that had been stained red with blood. You didn’t want to know what was caught between its teeth, but it dangled and spun around as it chased after the hunter. It was on all fours, it had long claws and all of its fur was pat down by body fluids.

But what haunted you were its eyes. Unnervingly yellow, it didn’t have a pupils at all, it was just pure yellow like the sun.

The video stopped suddenly and the camera was turned to the reporter.

“Remember, if you know anything at all, contact the authorities immediately,” he warned.

* * *

~*September 29*~

It was weird to come back here, especially knowing that you’ll never see the principal again. Everyone was silent in the morning, doing their best to avoid the spot and not to step on it as they scurried into the school. You stared at it as you entered, your friends did too. It was like a car crash, you couldn’t look away from this freak accident.

This wasn’t going to be one of those problems where everything will turn around and be perfectly okay. Lives were lost and the community was destroyed because nobody can get over the fact that this happened. Some say it was an angry act from the Astrals, some blame the zoo for losing a new animal they never advertised they had, others blamed the “faulty” lighting system in the streets. This wasn’t going to make a one-eighty and end up to be sunshines and rainbows, it’s going to end knowing that even if that thing is killed, nothing will be the same. Sure, we’ll get over it, strengthen defenses and add on the law enforcement numbers, but we won’t be able to change the past if this thing is tracked down and killed.

But this wasn’t supposed to happen, they had a family to get home to, they just forgot their laptop here and swung around to pick it up on their way back from wherever they had come from.

What bothered you the most was the shitty clean-up job both the police gave and mother nature. Despite the supposed “deep cleaning” the police had done to get rid of the blood and two days of straight heavy rain, anyone and everyone could still see flecks and flakes of their blood on the smooth concrete. It was awful, it made your stomachs twist up in knots. You would figure that the principal mutilated right in front of the school doors - that teenagers walk to every day that they have school - would get a better cleaning, but that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t cleaned properly at all.

You turned your head back to look in front of you when you passed through the front doors of the school, you looked at your friends through the corners of your eye as you walked towards the cafeteria.

There was a copious amount of students sitting inside. It was almost deathly silent in the cafeteria. There were murmurs and whispers, the scraping of chairs and the creaks and squeaks of the tables moving a bit every now and again. You all sat down at the table and just stared at each other, not opening your mouths to speak or joke, not even a single yawn or cough. You could tell that they felt sick to their stomachs, and you felt it too. You knew for a fact that everyone in this room could feel it, even the cafeteria workers did too.

“Are they all just gonna forget that this all happened?” you heard someone ask from across the cafeteria.

“They won’t even reschedule the vigil,” someone else grunted as they slammed their fist on the table. “How hard is it to reschedule something so simple and so meaningful?”

You all looked at each other and then back to the doors of the cafeteria to see more people starting to linger in. Just seeing everyone’s dead expressions made the mood in the cafeteria even more sour. A chill sent shivers down your spine, you sharply inhaled.

“I have a bad feeling,” one of your friends murmured. “I don’t like this, I don’t like this at all.”

“What do you feel?” you murmured to them.

They looked at the table with groggy eyes, there were dark bags underneath them.

“I don’t know, I just… I don’t like this,” they murmured as they looked up at you. “I have this bad feeling in my gut and it won’t go away.”

“Is it like that time back in seventh grade?” another friend spoke up.

“No,” they snapped, “it’s not like that at all. I already get called out on that at home, I don’t need that here.” They sighed and looked back to the table. “I just have a bad feeling about someone in here,” they murmured.

“Do you know who?” you murmured.

“No,” they shook their head, “but I know it’s someone in here.”

You all looked to each other before slumping in your seats with sighs.

“It’s a shame that the vigil was cancelled,” Ignis stated as he came into view. “You would figure with all of this support within the community that they would, but they haven’t yet.”

“Any news from inside?” you asked him.

“Sadly, no,” he heaved a sigh as he sat next to you. “They still won’t tell us anything. It’s all kept within the King, The Shield and the Court.”

“But you’re always at the court meetings taking notes.”

“I’m not allowed in until this issue is resolved.”

“That’s ridiculous! How is Noctis supposed to deal with this situation when he’s King if he doesn’t get this kind of training!”

“All I know is that the most he will get on this is a daemon attack around the Insomnian border every now and again, otherwise, it is straight up loose dogs and angry deer that will not even be placed in his control.”

“He should still get in on this just in case something like this does happen when he’s King,” one of your friends huffed as they crossed their arms over their chest.

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“So you haven’t heard anything? Nothing at all?”

“I hear what you hear, I am left in the dark.”

“What about Gladio?” you questioned. “Is Clarus that strict with information? Last I remember, he tells his son everything.”

Ignis shook his head and sighed.

“I thought that same thing too, but when I asked, he told me that Clarus refuses to tell he and Iris.”

“I would think so too, that’s shocking,” you murmured.

More and more people started to file into the cafeteria, the once - nearly - silent room had exploded into a circus of noise as people rushed in. You all glared at them, sneering at how disrespectful they were.

“They probably stepped on it,” one of your friends scoffed.

“Of course they did, they don’t care about anything but themselves,” you huffed.

“Anyone who could step on it did,” a deep scratchy voice called out behind you. Turning around, you saw Gladio standing there with his two friends on either side of him, looking down to the floor in sorrow. The one who usually tosses the football up hadn’t lifted it from his side. “People are fucking disgusting, if you ask me. How hard is it to mark it off with tape or cones or something?”

“Apparently its very hard for this school and the board of education to even care for the community,” Ignis huffed as he stood up. “They died in front of the school and they can’t even clean it up properly!”

“Noct told his dad about it,” Gladio stated as he scratched at his hairy chin.

“Is Regis doing anything about it?”

“He had Noct show him through his camera how people are walking right over and how they didn’t clean it all up. From what Noct told me, he’s pissed.”

“I would be too, anyone with a brain and a heart would be.”

“I’m guessing he’ll be having a word with whoever was in charge of everything soon.”

“He’s already on it,” Noctis stated as he walked up next to Ignis, Prompto was right by his side.

Both of them looked tired, there were bags underneath their blue eyes.

Your friends didn’t even bother to look shocked seeing the prince standing right in front of them, they were all looking at the table in sorrow or at the crowd of teenagers in rage.

You all sat and stood there, listening to everyone else, trying to see if someone - anyone - found out anything about that thing. Ignis’ theory was proved wrong as the thing didn’t come back at all the past few nights. You only got casual talk and shitty jokes…

“I think it’s a werewolf!” a guy stated as he continued walking. “That thing was huge! It looked like it’s straight out of a movie!”

“Do you really think that, babe?” his girlfriend questioned as she gripped onto his arm.

You all stared at him as he and his girlfriend just kept walking closer to your table.

“Why not? Gotta believe in something!” he laughed. “But that thing was huge! And its fur and those eyes! It makes you think, doesn’t it?”

“A werewolf? In Insomnia?” she deadpanned.

“Oh come on babe! Are you scared?” he lifted his head up and spotted Gladio standing right behind you. “Gladio!” he cheered. He let go of his girlfriend and clapped Gladio on the back. “What do you think? A beast should know a beast, right?”

Gladio reeled back and cocked a brow.

You could smell something from him, something faint but it was strong too. It smelled like cheap beer, like the brand one of your friends drank too much at a party and you had to drive her home. It clung to his clothes, not not mention he looked tired and slow, his eyes were red… And… was that vomit on his shoes?

He was hungover, alright.

“What the fuck does that mean?” he questioned as he shrugged his hand off of his shoulder.

“Exactly what I said!” he smiled. His girlfriend rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “Look at you, you’re a beast! You’re big and you’re strong already!”

“Do you see me turning in a monster every full moon?” Gladio spat back.

“Who knows? It all happened on a full moon,” he smirked.

“Baby, stop tormenting him,” she stated as she grabbed him by the arm. “I’m sorry for him, we were at a party last night and he drank too much. He doesn’t know what he’s saying or thinking.”

“Where were you when it all happened?” he spat as he shrugged his girlfriend off.

“I was at the Citadel doing my job,” Gladio growled as he nudged Noctis behind him. Ignis and Prompto eyed him nervously, taking a step back while the rest of you watched on from your seats. The girlfriend sighed and looked away, afraid of what was going to happen to her boyfriend. “Unlike you, I can’t drink my life away. I have responsibilities and I made sure the prince was safe from that thing that roamed the streets.”

“Hey,” one of Gladio’s friends called softly as he grabbed Gladio’s shoulder, “just let it go. He may still be drunk, you never know.”

Gladio eyed his friend before he sighed.

“I’m so sorry for him,” the girlfriend whimpered as she grabbed her boyfriend by the arm again and tugged him away from you all.

Once they were far away from you all, you turned to you friend.

“Was that the bad feeling you had?” you asked them.

They shook their head and looked back to the table.

“No, that wasn’t it. That was just plain weird and rude, but that wasn’t it.”

“What’s wrong?” Gladio questioned as he placed a hand on the head of the chair you were sitting on.

“I have a bad feeling about something, but I can’t put my finger on it.” They sat back in their chair. “And it’s someone in this room, I can feel it.”

“But you can’t tell who,” Gladio hummed.

They shook their head and looked back up at you. You shrugged your shoulders and sighed.

All of you stayed quiet, still listening in on other conversations for any clues on anything, but nothing turned up. When the bell rang, we all looked at each other with sorrow weighing our faces down before sighing, standing up, grabbing our bags and heading off in our own directions.

* * *

Five hours couldn’t roll by any slower. It was almost aggravating how time seemed to slow down where you needed it pass by quickly. It didn’t help that the school’s hallways were battlefields for students. On one side, they argued that the others should had more sympathy for those who lost their live a few days ago. The other side refused and stated that it was survival of the fittest and that nobody should spend more time mourning people they didn’t know and just go on with their lives. Your friends as well as yourself kept to the first side, utterly refusing to look or even listen to anyone from the opposite side.

Teachers stayed quiet, looking down at their desks and writing out cards for those that they knew who were affected by that thing. Their voices were hushed and some were even raw from mourning earlier. Prompto caught one crying in the bathroom right in one of the stalls when he went to use one during third period, later finding out in fourth period that his best friend was apart of the mutilations. Some teachers even refused to teach, just telling the students to have a silent study hall as they sat there at their desks staring off into space. Then there were the teachers who went on like nothing had happened at all, continuing lessons and papers and assignments. Finally, there were the ones that were insensitive to the matter, scoffing and agreeing with the second batch of students completely.

You pushed your way through the waves of sweaty teenagers, wiggling your body and your bag through until you managed to pop out of the crowd and stumble into the cafeteria, you looked up and saw that the war was still waging between the students. You sighed, hearing the arguments over the bells starting to ring.

You eyed the table housing your friends that was already half full with tired eyes before you put one foot in front of the other, slowly dragging yourself until you were halfway there until you were yanked away.

A gasp left you as your feet skid across the tiled floor, two sets of hands were tugging on your elbows until you were behind the vending machines, away from most gazes. Looking behind you, you huffed when you saw it was only Noctis and Prompto standing there with smiles on their faces.

“What is wrong with you?” you snipped as you placed your hands on your hips. “You couldn’t just say ‘Hey (Y/n), come here for a second, would ya?’ Maybe not drag me by my elbows behind the vending machines?” you scolded.

“Sorry,” Noctis smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Prompto wiggled his eyebrows at you, a shit-eating grin plastered on his freckled face. You cocked a brow and looked back at Noctis who only mirrored his friend.

“Why are you two looking at me like that?” you questioned.

“So,Gladio,” Prompto hummed.

“What about him?” you shot back, your cheeks fired up with warmth.

“What about him?” Prompto gasped. “What about him? You two are adorable together!”

“They’re not even together yet,” Noctis informed.

“Exactly-” you started. You stopped. You looked at Noctis and cocked a brow at him. “I’m not with him yet?”

“Oops, I said too much,” Noctis smiled.

“What do you mean, yet? This is Gladio we’re talking about right? Gladio Amicitia? He’s the guy that doesn’t bullshit and don’t take the long way unless he has to or if its an option on his jog.”

“Unless it comes to you,” Prompto chimed.

“What do you two think you’re doing?” a sharp tone clipped through the air. “I suggest you stop this now and leave (Y/n) alone. You have lunch to attend to after all.”

Turning, you saw Ignis walking up until he stood by your side. Prompto hummed while Noctis playfully rolled his eyes.

“Might as well give her the heads up on why he’ll be jittery last period,” Noctis shrugged before sticking his hands in his pockets and walking away with Prompto tailing him.

You turned to face Ignis and raised a brow.

“Do you know about that? Like… What just happened?” you questioned.

“I do,” Ignis nodded.

He didn’t say anything else. Instead, he just simply looked at you with his normal look and kept his mouth closed. You cocked a brow.

“Care to elaborate for me? Because I’m not piecing this all together correctly apparently.”

“What is it you’re not getting? Gladio is crushing on you - and has been crushing on you for years, if I may point out -, you have a crush on him - lasting about the same duration as his crush for you -, so like any person with some common sense Gladio has taken it upon himself to ask you out on a date. All these years, it’s double digits, and it’s finally going to happen.” Ignis pushed up his glasses with his middle finger. “It looks like I won a bet that the Prince most likely forgot… Again.”

“Are you gonna chase after that? Or leave it alone and know that deep down you let bets like this slide for years with him?”

Ignis raised his brows, unpleased at the comment that just left you. Sighing, he closed his eyes and chewed on the insides of his cheeks. You knew you just turned the tables on him and won.

“This isn’t about me forgetting to collect my bounties from the bets over the years, this is about you and Gladio,” Ignis stated. “I was going to tell you that Gladio certainly has grown out of his phases and middle-school boyhood, but I don’t think you deserve that talk now.”

“Entertain me, Specs,” you chided as you turned and started to walk towards your table.

“Why not? It’s the only thing I can tell you without your other friends gushing over me?”

“They do that because they care.”

Ignis eyed you questionably before looking ahead towards the table sitting far away.

“He really has changed, (Y/n). He’s not like how he was back in middle school. He’s grown up, he has proof that he has. I know for a fact that he did grow up, I was there when it happened.”

“You were there when his balls dropped?” you quipped.

That earned you weird and confused glances from a few people around you two.

“I had to work with him through his puberty, so I guess you could say yes. But that isn’t what I meant.” You laughed. “If you’re worrying about Gladio being a player or that he’s trying to get into your pants, force you to do anything you don’t want to do, take you away from your friends and lie to you, then stop. He’s not like them, and he promised me he never will be like them.” Ignis fixed his glasses again. “He even made me promise to smack him if he were to ever become like that, and I plan on keeping that promise unlike the bets with Noctis.”

“I knew it,” you smiled.

You eyed Gladio who was laughing while he was trying to eat. He had to put his fork down so he wouldn’t drop it and the food that was stuck to it all over the table and floor. His friends eyed you before murmuring to Gladio who stiffened, causing his friends to laugh and elbow each other.

“I promise he is not like those two, I can assure you that.”

“From what I get in chemistry, I know he isn’t like those two at all.”

“Oh?”

“I sit right next to him.”

Ignis halted his steps, refusing to move as he glared at you.

“And when were you planning on telling me this?” he coughed as he placed his hands on his hips.

“Whenever you planned on telling me that you’re making bets about Gladio and I with Noctis,” you shot back quickly.

Ignis’ jaw loosened but he nodded.

“Fair enough. I can’t argue with that logic at all.”

* * *

Chemistry was just boring. No teacher, and when there was no teacher, the substitute was advised to put on the Nova Channel taps and let it go on from there, mark down where they stopped and just sit there doing nothing but probably play on their phones.

Half of the class ignored the Nova Channel, instead, they played on their phones and texted, scrolled through social media and took dumb photos of themselves. A few actually paid attention to the topics the Nova Channel was covering, taking notes like this was going to be on a quiz that was never going to come. He never quizzed anyone on the Nova Channel according to others who had taken the class prior to you. The rest were either staring off into space or passed out asleep on the desks, using their backpacks as a pillow.

The droning of the narrator’s monotone voice was enough to make your eyes feel heavy. A small yawn escaped you, your shoulders rolled back and your head tilted to the side. It felt good for these to stretch, so good that you moaned softly.

You eyed Gladio sitting next to you, and you weren’t shocked with the sight you were granted. He was nose deep in a book with red bindings, the name ‘Henruit’ was stamped into the thick binding with golden letterings, they looked like just colored tin foil really. Occasionally, he would look up from his book when there was going to be an explosion or if they would mention something about the Royal Lines. But as soon as it was done, his amber eyes would dive right back down below the pages and binding to read.

You nearly tripped as the bell rang, snatching up your bag and stumbling to push your away out of the classroom and into the hallway before the crowd started up. You managed to get halfway to the front of the school until you were swarmed with the mass of teenage bodies. Pushing your way through, you managed to pop out from the doors and wait on the sides until everything cleared out, leaving just you, Gladio and a few kids right there.

Gladio slowly walked up to you, he took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Hey,” he smiled at you.

“Hi,” you smiled back.

“Are you doing anything October twenty-fourth? By any chance?” he questioned as he eyed you.

“Not that I know of,” you hummed. “Why?”

You already knew why, you knew he was going to ask you out. Why did you ask that question?!

“Well, if it turns out that you aren’t doing anything that day, would you like to come with me to a party?”

“People are already planning Halloween parties?”

“No,” he shook his head, “it’s like a traveling rave. It’s supposed to be the best thing you could do around Halloween though.”

You squinted at him. Something seemed off until it hit you.

“Are you asking me out to this party because Noctis is going with Prompto and they don’t know you know so you’re trying to make it look like a coincidence?”

Gladio’s face fell into shock, but his eyes were worried.

“Noct’s going to it?” he questioned.

You bit your lip.

So that’s the party he was telling Prompto about earlier…

“Maybe,” you stated.

Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, Gladio shrugged.

“No, I’m not doing that to you,” he stated. His amber eyes bore into you, tugging at your heartstrings. Butterflies started to flutter in your stomach. “I meant like as a date - or just friends if that’s cool! We can go as friends!” he corrected himself with wide eyes.

You laughed and hummed, gazing back into his eyes.

“It’s a date,” you chirped.

With a smirk, Gladio rumble with laughter.

“You don’t know how long I’ve been meaning to do this,” he hummed.

“Years.”

“Iggy told you, didn’t he?” Gladio winced.


	3. Strobe Lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song Recommendation: Pumped Up Kicks - Foster The People / Weighty Ghost - Wintersleep / Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf) - AWOLNATION 
> 
> A Reminder of Authors Notes (really just what was in the commision):  
> Gladio doesn’t have his (to quote Monica) “Green Day rip-off hair”, instead, he’s starting to grow it out into that horrible choice of a mullet.  
> This is senior year for you (the reader) and Gladio.  
> Ignis is your best friend.  
> Noctis and Prompto are freshmen and Ignis is a junior.  
> Gladio got his scar during summer protecting Noctis.  
> This happens right after the events from Brotherhood.  
> This switches P.O.V.’s whenever there is a ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~, not a split like this:

You shifted in your seat, your fingers running along the new leather seats, taking in that new car smell once more time through your nose before opening your eyes. It was nearly silent in the car, nearly was the key word. The speakers were occupied with music from the radio, but it wasn’t loud at all, it was more of a mumble than anything else. You looked over to Gladio in the driver’s seat and smiled at the sight of him. His amber eyes were pinned on the road before him, his hands firmly set on the wheel as his long legs were tucked - most likely uncomfortably - into what little space his car had provided. Only once did his left hand leave to wheel to groom back the growing chocolate locks from his eyes, and then it was quickly grasping the steering wheel.

You had learned that Gladio got himself a new car (a brand new Subaru Forester in fact) to celebrate him finally making it senior year when he opened the door for you when he picked you up. He had only recently gotten it though, not getting it at the beginning of year because he was busy with making up a personal schedule for himself and Iris and his father.

And speaking of Iris, Gladio had forgotten a pink clip in his hair from her “doing” his hair earlier to which you saved him the embarrassment of being a great big brother to the people at the people. She had even left you a small note in Gladio’s car, telling you to be careful (which was spelled horribly yet adorably wrong). You had folded it up and slid it into your pocket.

And his father Clarus was a really sweet aging man. You could only go by the images of him and what little Ignis had mentioned of him from whenever you grew curious about what happens inside of the Citadel. He sounded like a stubborn old man. You had briefly met him when Gladio forgot his wallet at home to which he quickly ran back into Amicita Manor to retrieve it while Clarus had come home and decided to introduce himself to you. Underneath that shield exterior sat a caring and loving man. Like father like son, you thought as Clarus left Gladio to take you to the party.

Something sat in the pit of your stomach, though. It was heavy, but it was also light and fluffy. Your mind screamed at you to say something to which your gut agreed with quickly, lifting your spirits quickly. You don’t know why you yearned for small talk, but your mind was craving it now. Maybe it was the music just barely audible or maybe it just the car ride with him..? You couldn’t tell.

“So do you know what hairstyle you’ll have next?” you questioned as you sat back against the comfortable plush seat.

You winced, you cursed yourself out. What that the best you could do? And why something so off and weird? Why not ask about his day? His week? His dad and his sister?! Why did you ask about his hair?!

“I don’t know, really. I’ll just go along with it, I guess,” Gladio laughed.

Your stomach stopped twisting in knots at his response. Did he mind this? He didn’t look like he minded this.

“Please don’t grow it out into a mullet,” you whined.

“You know what?” he smirked. “I’m gonna grow my hair out into a mullet just for you since you love them so much,” he teased.

“Stop, no, I hate you,” you complained.

Gladio’s hearty laugh filled the car, a smile started to crack onto your lips until you yourself were laughing along with him as the car sped down the empty highway. It was weird to you as to why the highway was empty. This was a big highschool party in a hidden club built by teenagers for teenage parties. Everyone from your school was going to be there and then some, so why was the highway so empty? The party doesn’t start for another thirty minutes… Maybe they wanted to get a head start on the traffic? Or maybe there was a back-entrance?

Gladio slowed down at the traffic light and set his right blinker on. To the right, there was an off ramp followed by a gas station, a cheap hotel and a few roads (some done professionally and some not). You guessed that you were going to be going down one of the unprofessional roads.

And sure enough, as the light turned green, Gladio turned and passed the gas station and the hotel and turned down the first road on the right that lead into a small patch of woods.

“You know where you’re going, right?” you questioned him.

“Of course I know,” Gladio puffed out his chest confidently. With a playful roll of your eyes, you looked forward to see glowing lights peeking through the trees and bushes. Gladio pulled off of the road and parked the car. “See, I told you I knew where I was going,” he smirked.

“I just asked a question!” you laughed.

Gladio laughed along with you before unbuckling his seatbelt.

“You don’t mind with a little bit of walking, do you?” he cocked a brow.

“No,” you shook your head, “no I do not.”

“Great.” And with that, he quickly got out of the car and jogged around to your side and opened up your door as you unbuckled yourself. “Let’s go,” he smiled as he offered you his hand.

Thanking him, he pulled you up and out of the car and closed the door behind you. As you two started to walk, you noticed that a few cars were just like his: Parked to the side and a little ways away from the party. Smart, to avoid a lot of traffic.

You looked over to Gladio right next to you and smiled as you could smell him and his cologne. It wasn’t strong and nauseating, it was just the perfect amount and the scent was just so warm and inviting that it just seemed to make your chest swell with emotions and your stomach start to flutter. You eyed his getup too, admiring it along with his choice of cologne.

A tight black tank top somehow managed to fit over his thick pecs, new dark blue jeans donned his waist and legs, leather boots free of scuffs and scrapes and a dark red and black flannel tied around his waist. He looked handsome. He even trimmed up his facial hair just for you. His usual hat was missing from the top of his head, leaving his lengthening chocolate locks to freely wave around in the crisp October air.

You looked back to the jasmine green Forester sitting right underneath a makeshift lamp post, watching it sit still underneath the flickering bulb before looking forward. Small talk was tossed around the two of you, laughs spiked and the crunching of fallen leaves were enough to make you want to stop and just take in everything. But, you carried on and continued to walk forward with Gladio right by your side.

You could hear the pulsing music and you can even feel it through the ground and through the air. The closer you got to the party, the louder the music got and the more cars you started to spot until it was just a mass of vehicles surrounding a big club with lights and music and people dancing around.

Some people wore costumes, most were slutty styles while the rest were more of a classical variety. That being said, it was the same for the people who didn’t wear Halloween costumes: Most worse slutty clothes while the rest were in normal clothing.

Gladio stopped next to you and his head shot in a direction. You stopped when you noticed he wasn’t next to you and looked behind you to see Gladio looking at something.

“What’s wrong?” you questioned.

“Hold up a second, I gotta be the Royal Shield for a minute or two,” Gladio stated before he started to walk away from you. “I’ll be back, just wait there for me.”

You watched as Gladio marched up to someone, and your jaw dropped when you saw he was now in front of Noctis and Prompto. Noctis wore a stupid white shirt that said “I get laid a lot” with a picture of a bed while Prompto wore tye dye crop top.

The butterflies in your stomach wouldn’t stop fluttering, your heart urged you to take out your phone and text Ignis for advice. Your hand slid into your pocket and you turned it on, got into your messages and went to Ignis.

‘What do I do?’ you texted.

‘What do you mean?’ Ignis replied.

‘I’m here at the party with Gladio, but he’s lecturing Noctis and Prompto.’

‘They’re there?!’

‘Yeah, but I thought lecturing was your job.’

‘It is.’ Ignis didn’t text for a minute. ‘Just wait for him to return to you and just go from there. If he blanks, just know he’s trying to make sure Noctis and Prompto are safe at the party.’

‘Thanks Iggy.’

‘Of course.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Why are you two here?” he immediately asked as he soon as he was in front of the prince and his friend.

“Why are you here?” Noctis fired back quickly.

“We’re here for the same reason you’re here big guy,” Prompto chirped nervously.

Gladio pinched the bridge of his annoyance and sighed.

“I’m not gonna turn into Ignis and give you a five hour lecture, but listen to me now.” Gladio looked Noctis in the eyes and furrowed his brows. “If something, anything happens in there, you leave. You get back in your car or you get to that hotel and wait for me. Did you drive here?”

“Yeah, I drove,” Noctis confirmed.

“You two get out of here the second there’s trouble. Do you two understand me?”

“Why are you so uptight about this? This is just a highschool party! It’s Halloween! There’s going to be screaming and laughing and people chasing people!” Noctis retorted.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Gladio, you were even there when they confirmed that that thing was caught and killed by the hunters. It’s dead, we don’t have to worry about another massacre! We’re safe.”

“You don’t know if that was the same thing.”

“You have your doubts, big guy?” Prompto questioned.

“Yeah, and I have a bad feeling about this now that I look at everything up close,” Gladio murmured as he eyes the building.

“Okay, look. How about Prompto and I stay out here and we don’t even go in there? We’re right outside, my car is right over there, we have a quick exit if anything goes on but we still get to party out here?” Noctis offered.

“No drugs, stay away from the alcohol. Got it?” Gladio questioned.

“Yeah yeah, I got it.”

Gladio hummed and started to turn back, his eyes landed on you pocketing your phone and looking back at him. He smiled softly at you, he could feel his chest swell with worry, but he fought it down. He could handle himself… But could he handle a monster?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You pocketed your phone and looked back up at Gladio, Noctis and Prompto. You tried to hold in a laugh as you saw Gladio square up his shoulders and started a short lecture before he walked away, leaving the prince to roll his eyes and Prompto to look nervously at Noctis. His face, deadpanned and unimpressed, lit up when he saw you were still standing where you stopped earlier.

“Gave them a good lecture?” you smirked.

“Yep. Ignis doesn’t scare them straight like I do,” Gladio stated confidently.

“Oh yeah, because the Prince looks terrified right now.”

Gladio tisked you and nodded to the open door behind you.

“Let’s just get in there,” he laughed at you.

He took you by the hand and tugged you to follow him. He weaved you around and through the crowd of teenagers until two teenagers pulled open the metal doors of the club just enough for you two to slip in only for them to close right behind you.

It was crazy inside. The music was louder and it shook the floors and walls, people were dancing like maniacs, the lights were bright and moving along to the beat of the music, and fake fog curled around your ankles. You weren’t sure how all of these teenagers were moving their body like their bones were made out of gelatin, but you weren’t going to question it as soon as you saw the red party cups full of alcohol and the multiple bongs littering any surfaces they could find. Honestly, this looked like something straight from a tv show and you were starting to wonder if Gladio may have taken a wrong turn. Did Gladio accidently take you to a tv set instead of a highschool party? Or was this actually it? It would make sense why Noctis and Prompto would want in on a tv set… But as you looked around, you noticed that all of the patrons of the party were indeed people from your school, mostly the juniors and the seniors. Were the people in your school really this wild?

You hadn’t realized it until you were moving once more that Gladio had tugged you to the side of the crowd moshing in the center, right in front of the stereos that were shaking with every beat and let go of your hand. He turned to you with a smile on his face, the black lights above highlighted his white teeth and his warm eyes.

“Is this okay or do you wanna move somewhere quieter?” Gladio shouted over the pulsing music.

“Somewhere else?“ you offered.

Gladio nodded and took you by the hand once more before he tugged you to follow him once more. He tugged you along the wall of the club, past a few couples grinding on top of each other or making out until Gladio spotted something and tugged you over to it. It was a door, and Gladio let go of your hand to pry it open with both of his hands. He peeked into the room before nodding for you to go in. Slipping past him, you noticed that nobody was in this room and it was nearly empty. There was a couch and some spare strobe light bulbs in the corner, a hanging light was on but it pulsed with the music that was now muffled. Gladio closed the door and looked to you. There was a window too… At least that was your guess as to what was behind the thick, dusty plastic curtain.

“This better?” he questioned.

“Yeah,” you smiled as you looked at him, “thanks.”

The music had suddenly scratched out, the crowd of teenagers outside of the door that separated you all booed and shouted at whoever was in control of the music only to cheer as another tune started to play. It was slower and softer than the last few songs which you could tell the lights and walls appreciated it, they weren’t rattled as much anymore… for now at least.

“Do you wanna dance?” Gladio sheepishly asked as he scratched the back of his neck.

“I’d love to,” you hummed.

Gladio smiled, no black light was around to show off his white teeth, but you knew his smile looked amazing.

Gladio scooped up your hands and squeezed them gently, he tugged you closer to him until your chests pressed against each other. He hummed as you slid your hands from his and slid them over his broad shoulders. He slowly trailed his hands down from your shoulders to your waist where he held you close, pressing you flush up against him.

Slowly, you two started to sway side to side along with the rhythm of the song. Even though the music was muffled, you could make out everything from the lyrics to the chords of the bass and guitar. Gladio brought you closer to himself, your bodies were pressed against each other firmly. You could feel his body heat melting into you, a shiver ran down your spine.

Gladio instantly pulled away from you, his hands shot to his waist as he fumbled with the knot his flannel sleeves were tied into and yanked the flannel free from his waist. He held it up for you to take by the thick collar.

“Here, are you cold?” he offered as he nudged the flannel forward for you to take.

“I-I’m fine!” you laughed. “I’m fine, really.”

Loud clanks and clicks rang out from above you before the ceiling started to rattle. The vents on the ceiling started to turn to release cold air that was meant for the large crowd outside. Another shiver ran down your spine as you eyed the flannel held out for you to take once more. You were debating about it.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna take it?” he joked as another smile spread across his lips.

“Won’t you be cold though?” you questioned.

You didn’t want to take his flannel. What would happen if he gets cold in here?

“Don’t worry about me. Take it,” he offered it to you again.

Slowly, you reached out and wrapped your fingers around the thick flannel. Your fingers brushed against his, your face started to heat up at the skin contact. You tugged the flannel from his grasp, his hands fell back to his side as he watched with soft eyes as you slowly tugged the flannel over your shoulders and slid your arms through the gigantic holes. This thing was huge on you! It was baggy and it draped over your waist and thighs, and you had to roll up the sleeves so many times so the sleeves would come up to your elbows. It was a comfortable flannel though. It encased you with warmth, you didn;t shiver form the air conditioning anymore. And another plus was that it smelled like his cologne and it was just right too. Not a lot of cologne, but not too little. Just the right amount.

“But what about you? What if you get cold?” you retorted.

“You really worry that much about me? That’s sweet of you. You sound just like Iris before I left. She made me take another coat just in case. It’s in the backseat of my car. If you’re so worried about me getting cold, I’ll go get it. Just stay in here, alright?” he offered as he slid his hands into his pants pockets.

“Alright,” you smiled.

“I’ll be right back. Just sit down, I’ll be only a few minutes,” he stated as he pulled out his car keys.

As he turned to the door to reach for the handle, the handle moved from the other side. Gladio backed away from the door as it swung open to reveal two people staggering into the room. They looked familiar - of course they looked familiar, they’re from your school - but when they stumbled into the light, you two recognized the two. It was the guy who accused Gladio of being that monster last month! His girlfriend was attached to him by the hip.

You looked up at Gladio to only see him shrug at the situation. He motioned for you to slowly come closer to him, and as you inched your way past the two drunks, the guy managed to catch a glimpse of Gladio.

“Well well, look at-” he hiccuped, losing his balance just a bit - “look at who it is: The Beast of Insomnia.”

“I’m not-”

“Full moon’s up in the sky, buddy,” the guy warned. “You gonna rip us all to shreds? Or do you like playing with your food first?”

You looked over to his girlfriend only to see her plastered. Her body was slumped over the couch, her slutty witch costume had ridden up to reveal her bare behind with no paties in sight. She was probably face-first in the cushions of the couch.

“Do you see me as a monster yet?” Gladio fired back.

“Don’t know yet,” the guy slurred. “Just gotta wait that monster out.” The guy hiccuped and leaned against the couch, his elbow just barely missing his girlfriend’s thin waist. “Those attacks-” another hiccup interrupted him- “didn’t happen until later.”

“I’m telling you, that wasn’t me. I wasn’t that thing,” Gladio argued. “I was at the Citadel doing my job. You can ask (Y/n),” Gladio stated as calmly as he could.

The guy swung around to see you standing there, stalk still by the wall from where you stopped your attempts at walking towards Gladio. He slowly raised his eyebrows, another hiccup nearly knocked him over.

“You’re here with him?” he slurred. You nodded and stood back. You didn’t like the vibes coming from him. You weren’t going to lie to yourself, you were nervous. The guy tsked and shook his head lazily. “Bedding the beast in such a small room,” he scoffed.

“We weren’t-”

“No no,” the guy shook you off with a lazy wave. “You can’t lie, I caught you two.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Do you know what happens to people like you-” another hiccup surged him forward a bit- “like you when you’re with people like him?” he pointed at Gladio. When you didn’t answer, he started to advance towards you with Gladio starting after him. The guy backed you up into the wall and slammed his fist into the metal, you jumped and bit back a gasp. “Do you?!” he shouted in your face, the stench of alcohol burned your nostrils.

“That’s enough!” Gladio growled as he snatched the guy by the collar of his shirt. He yanked the guy away from you and toss him a little ways away from you. “You’re drunk! Sit down and stay down!” Gladio ordered.

“Like I’m gonna take orders from someone like you,” the guy slurred as he shook his head.

Gladio quickly turned to you.

“Go find someone that can take these two home,” he ordered you.

The guy barreled towards Gladio, managing to catch him off guard and throw him against the wall. A pained shout left Gladio’s lips as his back collided with the hard metal, his body slid down until he met the dirty tiled floors. The guy grabbed Gladio’s shirt with his two bare hands and threw him over to you, Gladio’s body falling right in front of your feet.

“Come on, Gladio! The party just got started!” the guy taunted as he eyed you. “You’re not gonna leave us, are you?” he pouted.

“You’re sick,” you spat.

You turned on your heel and started to tug open the heavy iron door. Just as you managed to slide out with what little room you gave yourself, something yanked you back by the collar of your shirt and by the collar of Gladio’s flannel. You choked on your own saliva as you gagged, your hands immediately shooting up to the collar that was digging into your throat to try and scratch for it to loosen.

“Let go of ‘em!” Gladio boomed as he forced himself between us. He spread an arm out to push you behind him as you gagged and choked, gasping for air. “Don’t touch them again,” Gladio warned.

“Or what? You’ll go big bad wolf on me? Blow me down?” A hiccup forced him to stumble where he stood. “Kill me?”

“I won’t. I’m not-”

“Don’t bother!”

The guy lunged and grabbed Gladio by the shirt again, lifting him off of the ground before throwing him away. Gladio landed right next to the couch and managed to catch himself with his elbows. A groan left his lips as he sat up, immediately shooting up to his feet and raising his fists. The guy came at Gladio with opened hands, aiming for Gladio’s shirt once more. Gladio reeled back his right fist, it recoiled and shot out to connect with the guy’s face as he snatched a hold of Gladio’s shirt and slammed him into his chest.

The two were a flurry of grunts and growls, fists collided with skin and nails digging into limbs and clothing. You could see the bruises already blooming on their skins, splotches of blues and blacks, others were painted with yellows and greens. You were sure the guy’s nose was one good punch away from breaking or at least bleeding slightly, but Gladio was soon to be sporting a black eye along with his scar. The skin around his left eye was already starting to darken.

Gladio reeled back his left fist and hooked the punch around, his knuckles smashing into his nose and cracking it, blood had started to dribble out from his nostrils. A pained shout left him as he reeled back from Gladio, clutching his nose and tilting his head back. He glared at Gladio who was panting, his fists were still raised, there was a dangerous glint in his eyes as his stood there defensively.

“Are you done yet?” Gladio spat.

The guy lowered his hand only to wipe it under his bleeding nose with the back of his hand. He wiped the blood off on his shirt and snorted, shaking his head. A sickening smirk peeled onto his face.

“Never,” he coughed.

“You’re drink. Go home. Hell, I’ll even find someone to take you to the hospital for that.”

“I don’t want your sympathy, dog!”

“(Y/n), get her out of here,” Gladio ordered.

Slowly, you scurried up to the couch, trying to stay as far away from her boyfriend as possible as you attempted to scoop her up and slowly drag her towards the door.

Just as you reached the door, your hand stilled on the door handle as your ears strained. The two men looked at you with confusion painting over their bruised faces. You eyed the door, your ears straining as you listened in on the club. The music was strained, sounding like someone had pressed the next button and it had broken, causing it to quickly shoot through every song in the playlist. You could swear you heard screams from behind the thick metal door.

Slowly, you opened the door, leaning the girl on the floor next to the door as you slowly cracked open the door just enough for you to peek out into the chaos of the club. The two teenagers behind you stopped, their bodies uncoiling and relaxing as they looked at you, their eyes widening and their eyebrows lowering in confusion. Gladio turned to you, his mouth opened to speak until he stopped.

“You heard that, right?” you murmured as you quickly looked away from the door.

“Hear what?” the guy questioned as he tried to stumble towards you.

Gladio shot out a hand to stop him, the guy stumbled and grabbed onto the couch for support, his legs halting any movement. Gladio turned his head to hear better, he didn’t breathe at all.

The room was so unnervingly quiet, you could only hear something if you were to place your ear on the door. You pressed your ear against the cold metal, trying to make out any actual sound. Gladio, on the other hand, turned towards the plastic curtain and slowly pulled it back to reveal a dirty window. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in months.

“Sirens,” he muttered. He turned to you three with questioning eyes. “Police sirens?”

“Is this party illegal or something?” you murmured.

“There’s alcohol and drugs here, of course it’s an illegal party,” Gladio stated quickly. He nodded at the door. “I need to get to Noct.”

You moved away from the door, nearly falling in the lap of the passed out girl while doing so. Gladio reached out and grabbed a hold of the handle and tried to pull it back to open it. The door refused to budge. It clanked with every jerk of the handle. Gladio grabbed onto the handle with both hands and started to yank on it, but the door still refused to budge.

“Are you doing it the right way?” you questioned.

“Yeah, I’m doing it the right way, this door comes in this way-”

The door bent inwards, a loud screech of metal shot Gladio back. You tried to scramble away from the door while trying to drag the girl with you. You could hear snuffling coming from underneath the door, huffing and slobbering. The three of you only started to freak out and panic as blood started to slowly pool into the room from under the door. The snuffling stopped, and screams filled the room, this time, they pierced right through the metal so the three of you could hear them as clear as day.

“Over here, bring her over here!” Gladio quietly screamed.

“Okay, okay okay,” you whispered.

You scrambled up to your feet before your hands latched onto her forearms and started to drag her in Gladio’s direction. Gladio ripped off the curtain and let it pile on the floor before he felt around on the bottom for the latch. Pushing away dust bunnies and clump of dirt and dead insects, Gladio was finally able to rip away the latch and start to peel the window upwards before he backed away, his hands covered in dust, his skin was bright red and possible throbbing. Gladio looked to the guy and nodded towards the window.

“Help me with this, now,” Gladio ordered.

“Alright alright,” the guy slurred as he pushed himself away from the couch.

The two slid their fingers into the small crack Gladio had made and started to push up until the window slipped from their grip and shot up, locking in place. Gladio made a tight fist and punched out the rusty screen, scratching up his knuckles in the process as the screen fell to the dirt ground.

“Get out and wait there, then get your girlfriend out of here,” Gladio ordered as he jogged over to you.

You watched as Gladio met you by your side and scooped the girl up into his arms before jogging back over to the guy who was slowly climbing out of the window. You could see teenagers racing for their lives as they spilled from the club, racing to their cars and throwing open the doors. Some teenagers even clung to cars as they started to race off and away from the club.

Gladio slid the girl into the guy’s arms to which he quickly tossed her over his shoulder.

“What are you waiting for? Get out of here!” Gladio ordered.

“Thank you,” the guy slurred out before he started to run and stumble away from the open window.

Gladio turned to you and held out his hand.

“Come on, you first,” he stated quickly as he walked over to you and grabbed a hold of your hand. He quickly yanked you towards the window. “Noct and Prompto aren’t here and their car is gone,” he rambled.

“Did they get away?” you questioned.

“I fucking hope so. Now come on,” he muttered as he helped you hop up on the ledge.

You turned, swapping your legs over to the outside and carefully slid down. It was a bit of a longer drop than you were expecting, it caught you off guard. You turned to look up at Gladio, the window was now at your upper chest.

“Come on,” you muttered quickly as you looked around.

A long howl shot through the night club. The sirens Gladio had heard were now racing, getting closer to where you two were You could see the flashing reds and blues from outside of the forest.

The door was banged on again, the metal denting more. Another bang, the metal nearly caved in on itself.

Gladio sat on the ledge and put one long leg over as quickly as he could.

The sirens were getting closer.

The door had finally caved in, collapsing on the ground. Two bright red eyes met yours, red-stained fangs were bared. You couldn’t even see the hulking body, but you knew it was there.

Everything seemed to have happened in slow motion. Gladio’s first leg had barely moved to the outside when the monster lunged, snatching his leg that was still inside and yanking him back. The fear in Gladio’s eyes just before he was yanked back inside.

Time slapped you back in the face, your lungs were empty and you wheezed. Your wide eyes were pinned to the room you escaped from. You watched as the monster’s red-stained teeth hinged open and launched down. A pained shout escaped Gladio as the monster snarled and growled.

The sirens were behind you now, tires screeched right behind you. The cars doors slammed shut and a pair of strong arms yanked you away from the window. Your mind snapped, your eyes widened as the monster raised its head only to lunge it back down onto Gladio.

“Stop!” you shouted as you squirm in their arms. “Stop! NO! Please! He’s in there! It’s killing him! Please!” you pleaded as you squirmed and fought back.

A bright white light shot into the room, the monster reeled back and winced at the light, raising a large hand to shield it’s monstrous face. The air left your body again as you took in its body.

It really was a werewolf.

The werewolf lowered its hand and snapped its jaws at the police. You didn’t fail to notice the scraps of Gladio’s once white shirt - now stained dark red - had punctured its fangs. Its ears were pulled back, its red eyes narrowed, a fierce snarl left its black lips as its black fur was caked in blood that was still dripping.

The officer holding you forced you to the ground, covering you with their back and arms as guns started to fire behind you and into the room. A sob escaped you as you shook in the officer’s grip. You could hear the werewolf howl and snarl as bullets probably shot through its body. You heard something vault over the window ledge before stumbling off, snarling and snuffling in the progress.

The officer on top of you quickly peeled off of you and lifted you up to your feet.

You could hear the officers behind you on their radios.

“10-91V.”

“10-91e.”

“187.”

You could hear one right behind you, the one that covered you in the spray of bullets, talk into her radio.

“We have a 10-91V at the Nightwatch Club right off of I-10. We have no officers down and the survivor count is unknown. The animal in question ran off to I-10, it has been shot multiple times in the chest and arms.”

“Copy that.”

You looked to the window, you saw police officers quickly enter the room and look down at Gladio. One ducked down, the other came to the window, he was still looking at his partner.

“Are you sure you wanna call that a 10-91V? That looked nothing like an animal,” an officer chided behind you.

“Then what would you call it?” she fired back.

“Something that’s definitely not an animal. That thing ran off like it was a human!”

“I thought the hunters took car of it already?” another officer questioned.

The one standing by the window choked up. His head quickly shot to you all standing outside.

“He’s alive!” he shouted. “Get a stretcher in here!”

“What about the rest?” the female officer questioned as she snatched up her radio.

“It’s a slaughterhouse in there, no survivors except him!”

The female officer clicked on her radio, static cleared before the operator called out.

“Only one survivor.”

“Copy that,” the operator sadly stated.

The officer placed a gentle hand on your shoulder and gently tugged you to a squad car where she had you sit on the hood. She took out a pen and a pad.

“You wanna tell me what happened here?”

“It was a highschool party,” you murmured as you looked at her with tired eyes. “He saw I was nervous in the crowd, so he found that room and we stayed there.”

“Then that thing came and used him as a chew toy?” another officer questioned.

You nodded as tears filled your eyes.

The officer in front of you quickly scribbled something down and pocketed her items. She placed a gentle hand on your shoulder.

“He’s going to be alright. Okay?” she murmured softly.

“I need to see him,” you choked out.

An ambulance had backed up to the club and two paramedics popped out with a stretcher from the back doors. They quickly disappeared into the club and came back out not even two minutes later with both officers and an occupied stretcher. She nudged you off of the hood and nodded in the direction of the ambulance as the two paramedics quickly lifted the stretcher and hopped in.

“You can go with them,” she hummed.

You nodded and another officer quickly escorted you towards the ambulance. The two paramedics looked at you before nodding, allowing you to climb in and sit right next to the doors as they closed.

As soon as the ambulance drove off, the siren started to blare. The paramedics started to work on him.

You bit your lip as tears started to fall down your cheeks. You slowly turned your head to see Gladio laying there, still and bloody and bruised. You choked on your own saliva, sniffling as you finally took it all in. His clothes were in ruins and shreds, blood was splattered all over his body. But what caught your eyes were the multiple puncture wounds on his waist and on his left shoulder. The cut up skin on his waist had stopped bleeding, but the wounds on his shoulder were still dripping.

The two paramedics hovered over him, doing their job as they answered the driver’s questions. They were mostly asking about the other ambulances, you saw the driver stiffen up upon hearing that Gladio was the only one to make it out alive from the monster.

“Do you know how many cars they’ll have to use to get all of those bodies out of there?” one paramedics muttered to the other.

“The graveyards are going to be full,” the other side.

The first paramedic looked over at you to see your eyes were glued on Gladio. You were satisfied to see the slow rise and fall of his chest compared to earlier when he was panting and shaking.

“Do you know what it was that did this to him?” he questioned as he looked you straight in the eyes.

You felt silly for wanting to say this, but it tumbled out of your mouth as you looked them straight in the eyes.

“A werewolf.”


	4. Amber Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song Recommendation: Budapest - George Ezra / Cardiac Arrest - Bad Suns / Don’t Know How - Ricky Montgomery
> 
> A Reminder of Authors Notes (really just what was in the commision):  
> Gladio doesn’t have his (to quote Monica) “Green Day rip-off hair”, instead, he’s starting to grow it out into that horrible choice of a mullet.  
> This is senior year for you (the reader) and Gladio.  
> Ignis is your best friend.  
> Noctis and Prompto are freshmen and Ignis is a junior.  
> Gladio got his scar during summer protecting Noctis.  
> This happens right after the events from Brotherhood.  
> This switches P.O.V.’s whenever there is a ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~, not a split like this:

~*November 3*~

Rain smacked against the windshield of your car. The dark clouds gathered above, yet it wasn’t really storming like the reports had said it would. It was only a light dizzle, a flash of lightning here and a clap of thunder there, but it wasn’t like the storm they had predicted. You looked to the hospital sitting there just a ways away. You had to, sadly, park on the other side of the parking lot. It was full, cars took up every single space, and some assholes took up two parking spaces like the greedy assholes they were. You huffed and sat back in the car seat, looking back up at the sky, watching as the dark clouds gathered and darkened even more before looking at your buzzing phone. It was a false alarm, just a random buzz from a social media app about someone you don’t care about.

You looked up at the sky and sighed, seeing how the raindrops were now starting to speed up and becoming fatter. Thunder and lightning had started up faster, growing closer to you each and every second that passed. Each splat against your window grew larger and larger until the drops had slowed down. This was your chance.

You stumbled out from the car, slamming the door shut and nearly failing to stand up. You almost banged your head on the car next to you. You scurried through the sea of cars and motorcycles, weaving past mirrors and bumpers, dodging cars that were pulling out and pulling in until you were right in front of the hospital doors. You pulled the flannel out from your bag and held it close to you as you slowly entered through the automatic doors.

The waiting was full like always, people in pain and people looking green sat in the large waiting room to your left. Family members were helping their sick ones into wheelchairs or laying them down, throwing their coats and sweaters over their cold bodies. Mothers hushed their crying children, fathers rocked the strollers and rubbed their parents’ backs to try and soothe them all. Nurses attempted to help as much as they could, offering pain killers for those with aches and fresh bandages for those with wounds that bled through their previous wrappings. Janitors did their best to clean up the vomit and other bodily fluids that may have spilled to the tile floor.

You looked up to the receptionist desk to see the reception was quickly typing away on the keyboard. His eyes were trained on the screen, you could see that he was filling out documents from the reflection on his large glasses.

You slowly walked up to the window and waited for him to finish.

“What do you need?” he asked politely, he didn’t look away from the computer screen as he continued to type away.

“Is Gladiolus Amicitia accepting visitors today?” you questioned.

Ever since Wednesday night, there were no visiting hours. Ignis couldn’t visit, Noctis couldn’t, not even Clarus or Iris could visit their own family. You were denied to be with him when you both arrived at the hospital, you were taken to a different room than him and were taken care of for the small scratches you had gotten. You were hoping and praying to the six that he would be able to have visitors.

“I do not know, I’ll check for you,” he stated.

Just as he was about to click off of the page he was on, a nurse popped up in the background and looked at you, a smile forming on her lips.

“He is. He’s on floor three, room 307,” she stated with a kind smile. “His father and his little sister are still there, I believe. Don’t quote me on that.”

“Thank you,” you sighed in relief.

A part of you hoped that Clarus and Iris were still here, but another part of you hoped that you could have a minute or two alone with him. You hoped you could get some answers from Clarus, you hoped that he knew about the animal that attacked him or at least how he was doing. You wanted to know what it was, what had happened to him and what will happen to him.

Would he lose his arm? His mobility in his shoulder? How much blood did he lose? You only made yourself worry more and more the more gruesome questions you asked yourself.

Maybe you should ask the nurse? No, no, you didn’t want to bother her while the hospital was so busy.

You turned and weaved your way past the doctors and nurses crowding the halls until you were faced with the elevators. You pressed the button and waited… and waited… and waited. Patience was thinning, your eyes were glued to the number slowly falling until it finally hit the ground floor. The bell chimed and a wave of doctors flooded out, a few nearly knocking into you. You quickly entered and pressed the third floor, the doors quickly closing.

The elevator jutted down then quickly flew up before it settled at a calm pace. The numbers ticked by quickly. One… Two… Three…

A chime rang in your ear and the doors slid open. Angry relatives and snotty-nosed children stood there waiting for the elevator. You quickly rushed out, not wanting to get in their ways. You were afraid of waiting any longer and testing their patience. The parents surged forward as soon as you cleared the elevator, their shoulders knocking into you as they dragged their whining children with them. You didn’t even want to say something in case they were to lash out at you. You turned your attention back to the hallways and the rooms.

“307,” you murmured to yourself.

You looked up at the ceiling to see a sign hanging down. Odd numbers were to the left, even numbers to the right. You turned down the left hallways. You kept chanting the number over and over again.

307\. 307. 307. 307.

Your eyes looked from room panel to room panel, looking past the numbers.

301, 303, 305…

You stopped right in front of a closed door. 307 was the number on the panel. You looked to the name of the panel: Gladiolus Amicitia. You smiled, knowing you found him. You got closer to the closed door, you could hear a heart monitor beating away at a steady beat. You also hear people speaking, a deep voice and a higher-pitched voice.

‘It must be Clarus and Iris in there…’ you thought.

Was Gladiolus awake? Was he not speaking? Or was he still unconscious? You should’ve asked the nurse before you came up here… You didn’t want to bother her though with the hospital so full.

Should you come back later? You wouldn’t be able to visit until Monday, Sunday there were no visiting hours. You looked at your phone, noticing the time. It was actually later than you thought, visiting hours are going to be ending soon.

You slowly raised a hand and knocked on the door. Not even a few seconds had passed and you could hear the voices pipe up.

“I’ll get it daddy,” you heard Iris chirp.

You heard her little feet hit the tiled floor and patter up to the door.

“Ask who it is first, Iris,” Clarus reminded her.

“Yeah! Right!” she stated confidently. “Who is iiiit?” she dragged it out.

“It’s (Y/n). (Y/n) (L/n),” you spoke softly.

“Iris, let them in!” Clarus stated quickly.

“Okay!” she chirped.

The door handle jiggle and it clicked until it finally opened. Iris got off of her tiptoes and looked up at you with wide eyes and a small pink smile. She looked adorable, she always did. She was wearing a cute pale pink dress with a moogle stitched into the chest and black shiny shoes with white socks.

“Hi Iris,” you smiled down at her.

“Hi!” she chirped right back.

“(Y/n),” Clarus called from inside of the room.

You walked past Iris who just closed the door as softly as she could. You saw Clarus push himself up and off of the chair, steadying himself so he wouldn’t fall forward. He looked at you with steel blue eyes, they were full of worry and sorrow.

He wasn’t in his usual uniform like you had always seen him in if you were to visit the Citadel to bring Ignis coffee or a change of clothes for when he had to stay overnight. Instead, he wore a black sweater and simple blue jeans and leather boots scuffed and torn with age. He had dark circles around his eyes, his salted facial hair was longer than usual. He must’ve spent so much time here…

“Hello sir,” you stated with a sad smile.

He stumbled up to you and placed both of his strong hands on both of your shoulders. He squeezed them as he looked down at you.

“Please, tell me what happened,” he pleaded. “They wouldn’t tell me anything about what happened to Gladiolus. They only told me that he was attacked, they won’t tell where he was attacked, what attacked him and where it ran off to if it did run off. Please, you have to tell me,” he begged.

“It was that thing that killed all those people last month,” you murmured to him. You looked over to Iris to see she was coloring in her little book, sitting next to her moogle plushie. You looked up at Clarus to see tears were welled up in the corners of his eyes. “It was a party, we were in the back room because it was just crazy in the main room and it just came and he tried to get out but it grabbed him and-”

Clarus bowed his head and sighed, sniffling and looking back at you.

“Thank you. I will make sure I inform King Regis and this stops now.” He looked to the blue curtain that was pulled around. “He’s behind there if you wish to see him. I’ll take Iris to get something to eat.” He turned to look at you. “Would you like anything to eat?”

“No thank you,” you murmured as you looked at the curtain.

Upon hearing the mention of food, Iris sat up and inched herself back off of the chair she had just sat back on. She grabbed a hold of her moogle plush and held it up to her chest with one hand before giving her small hand to her father who took it firmly. She smiled up at you with her warm amber eyes, you just had to smile back at her.

“We will be back shortly. I wish to get more details from you when we come back here if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” you smiled sadly at the older man.

And with that, Clarus nodded and guided Iris out of the room.

You turned fully to the blue curtain and reached out, taking the stiff cotton in your hand, you pulled it to the side. It parted to the middle, the curtain moved until you had stopped it when it revealed a Gladiolus lying in a hospital bed.

He was still unconscious… He had tubes going down his throat, an oxygen mask covering his mouth… He looked so sick and ill and tired. He had darker bags than Clarus, his hearty tan was pale - just barely bordering green - and clammy. You could see the clean white wraps poking up from the rumpled white hospital gown they had put him in. His arms that were tossed over the blue sheets, both were wrapped with bandages.

Your breath hitched in your throat, tears welled in your eyes. You sniffled, you wiped your eyes with the back of your hand and slowly walked up to him. You whimpered as you looked at him, slowly taking in all of the damage that had been done.

“Gladiolus?” you murmured. You didn’t get a response… Figures, he’s out cold. “I…” You looked to the floor. You clutched the flannel closer to your chest. “I want to say thank you for… for that night. You let me go first and-” you choked up, you sniffled, the air got caught in your throat “and you got hurt because of that and I just…” you looked down at your hands clutching onto the hoodie tightly, “I just don’t know how to repay you or how to say thank you or that I’m just so sorry Gladiolus.” You looked back up at Gladiolus with hope coursing through your veins, a slight sliver of childish hope that he would awaken and say something to you… But minutes passed and nothing happened. He didn’t move. You placed the flannel next to him on the bedside end table. “I brought this back. I washed it for you and I sewed up the small holes in it.”

Gladiolus laid there unmoving still. You moved your hands from the flannel to the bars on the side of his hospital bed. You gripped the smooth bars tightly. You raised a hand to cup his cheek, your thumb rolling along the long red crusted scar running down his eye and cheek. You noted he didn’t wince or flinch at all when you touched it… He felt cold, no warmth left his body at all like it used to a few days ago. You missed his warmth, his heated tanned skin that produced such a comforting warmth to you and those around you.

You raised your hand to card it into his hair. It was greasy and oily, it needed to be washed soon. His facial hair was growing in, short dark brown hairs protruded from his jaw and chin and cheeks. You knew he was going to shave as the first thing he will do when he wakes up. You only hoped that he would wake up soon and not when he has a full beard.

Your hand that was carding through his hair slowly slid down to his chest. You could feel his strong heart beating away under the hospital gown and thick wrappings. The heart monitor only proved that what you were feeling was right.

Your lifted your hand to only slide it into Gladio’s open hand, curling your fingers around his thick palm before sliding your fingers in between his. You pressed your palm against his.

You nudged the chair right behind you forward, sitting down on the stiff cushions and keeping your eyes trained on his chest that was slowly rising and falling.

The door opened, revealing Clarus and Iris with food in hand.

“Is he still asleep?” Clarus questioned sadly.

You nodded and looked back at Gladio’s resting face. You noted his fluttering eyelids, they moved as if he was having a nightmare, but his heart monitor was not going crazy… It must just be a weird dream then…

You bit the inside of your lip, keeping in a whimper as best as you could.

“He’s been asleep ever since they got him in here and managed to calm him down,” Clarus duly stated.

You could hear the strain in his throat, but he kept strong for yourself and Iris.

“Calm him down?” you raised a brow.

“He… They don’t know what it was, but when you two were separated, he seized or at least they think he was having a seizure. He was jerking around, vomiting in his own mouth… One of the doctors said he looked like he was possessed, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he was screaming and choking.” Clarus looked to the floor as he mindlessly stabbed the assorted fruit in the plastic cup held in his hand. “And now he hasn’t woken up ever since.”

“Did they put him to sleep?”

“No.” He looked over to Iris who was quietly eating her small bowl of soup while looking down at her coloring book. “I told her that Gladio was sick. I don’t think she can handle knowing that her brother was almost mauled to death by some monster,” he muttered to you. “She believes me, of course she does, but she’s a smart girl. I know she’ll piece it together soon.”

“What are you going to tell her when she does?”

“The truth…”

“You said you were gonna ask me some more questions?” you murmured.

You looked over at Iris to see she was doing what most little girls do with their stuffed animals: Try and feed it. She poked the moogle’s mouth with a cracker that was meant for her soup, giggling and continuing to poke at its mouth.

“Could you see what it looked like? Any features that stood out to you?”

“These big, red eyes and it had dark fur… At least I think it was dark, it was covered in blood and it was dark in the room. It was big too…  The cops, they said it ran off like it was human and it practically ate up the bullets that were fired.”

“Do you know what that monster was? A daemon? A starscourged man?”

“No,” you shook your head.

You looked over to Gladio who had yet to move a single inch.

“Do you have any idea? Anything that can help us kill this thing and end its reign of terror?”

You felt foolish for saying this again to another adult, but you said it.

“A werewolf,” you stated softly as you looked Clarus right in the eyes.

“A werewolf?” he questioned.

“It may not have been one but…” you looked back at Gladio, your hand tightened on his, “it looked like it was ripped from a horror movie. It looked like that video that was on the news, that was it.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes. Clarus, yes. I’m serious about this. You can call me crazy, insane, but trust me on this. I know what I saw. When Gladio wakes up, I’m sure he’ll say the same thing.”

Clarus nodded and stopped stabbing the fruit with his fork.

“I believe you. Who knows what could be out there anymore? There could be vampire, swamp creatures, maybe even krakens.”

You nodded. Your thumb ran over Gladio’s still clammy hand. You noticed something though, his hand was starting to warm up. His hand wasn’t as clammy as it was before. Was this on his own or was it just from you holding his hand for the past five or six minutes? You guessed it was that you wouldn’t let go of his hand and looked back at Clarus.

“Anything else?”

“You said it practically ate up the bullets?”

“Police officers shot it multiple times, even the officers were saying over the radio that the werewolf practically took magazines of ammo and still ran like nothing had happened. If it was able to leap over the windowsill and run off, I don’t think firearms are gonna do much.”

“Explains why that thing is still alive,” Clarus scoffed.

“Those professional hunters only used firearms. They said the thing went down, it didn’t move.”

“They didn’t look to see if it really was dead?”

“No. Those idiots. The Marshal even told them to do so, and look at where it got them. Look at where it got us! We’re in hot water King Regis and I, Cor and Ignis and Titus. Everyone is in deep waters now, and the council is doing their best to solve this.”

Ignis? So that’s why he hadn’t returned your calls or texts. He was busy with the council. It makes sense, Ignis would never leave you hanging.

“They didn’t try to take it back or put a tracker on it?”

“They did not. They left it for animals to come and savenge off of it.”

“They’re in deep trouble, are they?”

“Of course they are. Once I let Regis know, they will all be imprisoned.” Clarus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked to you with sad eyes. “Are you alright after all of this? I forgot to ask you, I didn’t mean to neglect your feelings.”

“I’m doing as best as I can. This weather isn’t helping me with my feelings, but what can I do about that?”

“Nothing much, sadly,” Clarus chuckled.

That was the first time you’ve ever seen Clarus smile.

“What about you? How are you feeling about all of this? It must be hard for you.”

“It is,” Clarus murmured. “It terrified me when I got the call, hearing about my son nearly mauled to death and possibly having a seizure… It shook me to my core… The thought of losing one of my children… It horrified me. And when they said I couldn’t visit and when Iris couldn’t see him, it only made it worse.” Clarus ran a hand over his nearly bald head. “I swear that this made the rest of my dark hair turn white.”

You couldn’t help but smile at that. At least he’s trying to make you feel better.

A knock on the door had you three watching as a nurse popped her head in.

“Visiting hours are ending soon,” she softly stated with a smile.

“Thank you,” Clarus stated as he pushed himself to stand.

Iris slid off of her chair and handed Clarus her moogle plushie before slipping her book and crayons into her pink backpack.

You stood up, your hand slipped out of Gladio’s. You leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead before you turned to leave.

You took one step and something snatched your wrist.

Panic bubbled in your throat as a yelp escaped your lips. Clarus and Iris looking back at you only for Clarus’ eyes to widen.

You looked down to see Gladio’s hand wrapped tightly around your wrist. It was starting to hurt. Gladio’s heart monitor had started to beep faster.

Clarus surged forward and grabbed onto Gladio’s wrist as you tried to pry his fingers from your skin. Two nurses poked their heads in and saw what was happening, their eyes widening as they rushed in to help you.

Gladio’s hand had finally been pried off of your wrist, your skin was bruising already. You backed away from Gladio as the nurses messed around with the machines.

Clarus ushered you out, making sure to tug Iris along until you two were out of the room.

“What was that?” you questioned.

“I have no clue,” Clarus stated with a tightened jaw.

* * *

~*November 10*~

Those past few days were agony. You couldn’t see Gladio at all, you couldn’t visit. Doctors and nurses were performing tests on gladio to see if he really was unconscious or if he was faking it. You didn’t even get to know how he was.

You didn’t have Clarus’ number nor their home phone, and the Citadel was on high guard. Nobody other than Citadel employees were allowed inside the grounds so you couldn’t go in and ask Clarus.

You only found out today that Gladio was now back in for visiting hours thanks to his friends giving you a heads up. It was a blow to your gut when you found out that Gladio was still out cold, but it was better than him faking it and being a complete ass about it…

Gladio was never the type of person to be an ass like that or fake something at all. He would never do such a thing… But when he grabbed your wrist…

Your wrist still burned too. It was like Gladio still had his iron grip on your wrist. You could still feel that phantom pain of his fingers digging into your skin, his nails biting into your flesh. You shivered as you remembered his cold, clammy hands. Hell, there were still bruises on your wrist!

Worry sat in the pit of your stomach… What happened to him? What’s happening to him? Will he be the same Gladio you remember?

Ignis parked the car and looked over to you. He raised a brow and sighed, placing a calm hand on your shoulder. He was finally able to come visit Gladio and he offered to come with you in case Clarus wasn’t there, just in case Gladio grabbed a hold of you.

“We can always come back tomorrow if you still need some time, (Y/n),” he advised.

“No, no, I want to see him, Ignis. I need to see him and know that he’s fine,” you waved him off.

Ignis nodded and bit his lip. Ignis was still questioning the doctors and nurses on this, something didn’t add up to him. He knew something was up. He didn’t say anything to you though, in case he were to bring up an awful memory from that night.

Turning  the keys and sliding them out of the ignition, he opened the door and got out with you right behind him. He managed to find a spot in the front of the hospital, that was good at least! Right?

“He grabbed your wrist even though he was unconscious?” Ignis questioned.

“He did. As soon as I let go of his hand, he grabbed onto me,” you confirmed.

“I’ve never heard of anything like it. Are you sure he was unconscious?”

“Clarus even told me he hadn’t woken up ever since he got there.”

“Have you spoken to him recently? About Gladio?”

“No, but Gladio’s friends said that he was still out when they came yesterday.”

Ignis hummed and allowed you to enter through the open doors first. The receptionist was the same man from when you first came here. He was still typing away until you two came into view. He smiled slightly and went back to typing.

“Gladiolus Amicitia is still in room 307 if you’re here to visit him. Visiting hours are over at six,” he advised.

“Thank you,” you two murmured to him.

“Do you think Clarus is here?” you asked Ignis as you two turned for the elevators.

“Perhaps? King Regis has given him time off around this time everyday so he can visit and bring Iris along. It wouldn’t shock me if they were here.”

You pressed the button for the elevator. This time, it didn’t take forever to come down and you two weren’t barraged by a wave of doctors and nurses. You two entered and the doors closed behind you two. Neither one of you spoke for the ride up. Ignis looked deep in thought, you didn’t want to ruin his thinking by accident if you were to speak.

The bell chimed and the doors opened. There were no angry relatives or bratty children waiting outside.

“It’s this way,” you nodded to the left.

Ignis followed on your trail, walking along right next to you as you lead him down to one of the last rooms. You noticed how the door was slightly open and the heart monitor was still beeping away.

You pushed open the door slowly, revealing the hospital room to both of you. Your eyes widened when you saw the blue curtains were drawn fully on both sides to reveal Gladio sitting up and over the side of his bed. His back was to both of you.

His fingers curled into the bandages, he picked at them and pulled on them until they finally started to unravel. You both knew Gladio had a habit of doing such a thing if he were to get injuries, his scabs would be very itchy and he would want to scratch them as soon as possible. It happened ever since he was a kid.

Ignis leaned down to your ear, never looking away from Gladio who hadn’t realized you two were standing there just yet. He was too concentrated on unwrapping his bandages.

“I thought you said he was still asleep,” he whispered to you.

“That’s what his friends said,” you murmured back.

When Gladio had started to unwind the bloody and oily bandages, your jaws dropped when you saw the skin underneath the bandages had nothing on them. His tattoos were intact, no skin was torn up, no scars on his skin. It was like he was never attacked.

Sensing someone, Gladio looked over his shoulder to see you two staring at him with slackened jaws.

“Hey,” he smiled at you two.

Hey? Is that what he just said? Did he really just say that after being out cold for all of these days?

You clenched your hands into tight fists, you tried to calm down. Maybe he didn’t know he was asleep for over ten days? That’s how it is right? They’re not aware of how long they were out?

“Hi,” you breathed out shakily.

“Hello,” Ignis stated cautiously.

You two slowly crept into the room, Gladio watched with confused eyes. He raised a brow.

“What are you two doing? You’re looking at me like I grew five heads.”

“Do you know why you’re here in the hospital?” you questioned slowly.

Gladio deadpanned for a second, he looked the sheets in confusion before shaking his head.

“Not a clue.”

“You don’t remember the night of October twenty-fourth?” Ignis questioned.

Gladio stared into space, swallowed and shook his head once more.

“Nope. I don’t remember anything.” He stretched both arms above his head, curling his back. “What? Did I just get drunk or something? Is that why I’m here?”

“No,” you shot back.

Ignis placed a calm hand on your shoulder.

“If you were drunk or you got alcohol poisoning, you wouldn’t have been in a hospital bed for seventeen days, Gladio!” you exclaimed.

Gladio locked up, his eyes widened.

“I’ll make a call to Clarus and let him know you’re awake,” Ignis stated.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed in a number, placing the phone up to his ear as he walked out and closed the door behind him. One you both hear Ignis start to speak to Clarus - hopefully - Gladio’s eyes locked onto yours.

“Seventeen days?” he questioned.

“You were here ever since October twenty-fourth! Your father was here, Iris was here, I was here and so were your friends! If you think I’m lying then ask them!”

“What happened to me?” Gladio groaned as he placed his face in his hands.

“You remember that monster that killed all of those people in September?” Gladio nodded. “It came into that club we were at and attacked you. That’s why you have bandages wrapped around you, you were basically its chew toy!”

Gladio carded his fingers into his hair and pulled on the dark strands. He groaned and rubbed his face with his hands.

“But I don’t have any scars or any scabs,” he suddenly stated. He looked down at his arms and saw no scars on his skin. “I don’t have anything on me, this doesn’t make sense.” He tugged the collar of the white hospital gown and looked down, noticing the white bandages wrapped around his neck and chest. He started to pick at the until they came undone in his hands. No scars… No scabs… “What happened to me? What was that thing? What did they pump into me, (Y/n)?” Gladio suddenly questioned you.

“I don’t know what they pumped into you. Maybe some elixirs? Or potions? I don’t know!”

The door opened and Ignis slipped back into the room. He pocketed his phone and saw Gladio’s panicked face.

“Your father is coming and so is the Marshal,” he advised.

“Iggy, what happened to me?” Gladio shot at him.

You bit your lip and looked at the ground with tears pricking your eyes. Was this something you really should tell him? He was bit by a werewolf? Panic suddenly set into you…

Was Gladio a werewolf now?

No, no, because that would mean all of the other survivors were werewolves too… Right?

You were right… Right? Or were you just some crazy lunatic that told two paramedics and the King’s Shield that it was a werewolf that attacked Gladiolus and used him as a chew toy? Guilt had suddenly sat in the pit of your stomach, you could feel icy fingertips run along the back of your neck and down your spine.

“You were attacked at the club you took (Y/n) to for your high school party,” Ignis simply stated.

“What was it?” Gladio shot back.

Ignis bit his lip and looked down at the ground. You knew Ignis questioned what you said and what the police said. Did he believe you? Or did he think you were just hallucinating and it just turned out to be a baby behemoth or something else?

“Reports are mixed, but it was definitely the same creature that attacked the month prior.”

Gladio pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He ran his hands over his face and tossed the edge of the blanket that was still covering his legs back to the center of the bed.

“I have a lot of shit to get done, don’t I?” Gladio laughed.

He tried to lighten up the mood at least… It was a good thing he was trying though, this room was depressing as is. It didn’t help that the air in here was still so tense and heavy and thick with unknown emotions.

“We’re here to help you, you know,” you smiled at him.

Slowly, you walked up to him and placed your hands on his shoulders, you pulled the chair behind you forward and you slowly sat down in it. You moved your hands from Gladio’s shoulders and slid them into Gladio’s larger ones.

“I know,” he sighed. He looked down to your hands only to notice your wrist. He pulled you hand closer to him so he could see it better. He grit his teeth, his nostrils flared and his eyebrows twitched in anger. “Who the fuck grabbed you?” he growled.

Ignis swallowed and looked at you with wide eyes.

You bit your lip and exhaled through your nose.

“You did,” you murmured.

“I did this to you?” he questioned.

He held your wrist gently, he lifted it up to the light so he could see the bruises kissing your skin. He bit his lip in anger.

“You didn’t know you did it because you were out cold. You didn’t know you were doing it Gladio,” you whispered to him as you cupped his cheek with your other hand.

Gladio leaned into your touch. He was still cold to the touch.

“I need to shower, I fucking smell,” Gladio grumbled.

He grabbed onto the railings on the side of the bed and tried to push himself up only to fail. With a grunt, Gladio fell back onto the bed and winced.

“Let me call you a nurse Gladio,” you offered.

“I’m fine, (Y/n),” he sighed. He rubbed his legs and scoffed. “Guess being unconscious for seventeen days leaves the legs wobbly.”

“I’ll get him a nurse,” Ignis stated.

You watched as Ignis quickly tossed open the door and closed it behind him.

“(Y/n), I mean it, I’m fine. I can get up and do this on my own,” he smirked up at you.

“Gladio-”

“I’m perfectly capable of standing up, dragging myself over to the bathroom and taking a shower.”

“What about your IV?” You suddenly remembered something: His oxygen mask, his feeding tubes. “Did you take your feeding tubes out? And did you take your oxygen mask off?” you questioned him.

Gladio looked at you confused, raising an eyebrow.

“I didn’t have anything down my throat, (Y/N).” He shrugged. “Maybe they took it out? Who knows? Maybe they knew I would wake up and took the feeding tubes out and pulled my mask off?”

“Gladio, they won’t do that! Someone took them out of you!”

Gladio tsked and grabbed onto his IV stand and slowly dragged himself up. His legs shook underneath his weight. They looked a bit thinner and they were paler from the last time you saw them.

He tried to unlatch himself from the heart monitor, turning his back to you and letting you see his boxers. You wanted to take in his behind, but you looked at the back of his head with determination and placed your hands on your hips.

“Gladio, wait for a nurse. Please,” you pleaded.

“(Y/n), I’m fine,” he huffed.

“Gladio-”

“I said I’m fine!” he snapped at you.

His head shot to look at you over his shoulder. His eyes were dark with anger, his amber eyes seeming to glow in the calmly lit room. Hs eyebrow twitched, his eyes narrowed. You were taken back when you saw his stiff posture. His shoulders had hunched in on themselves, showing off his expansive back from the slit in the hospital gown. You could see the rippling muscle right under the black ink of the tattoo. You swallowed, noting how dark and deep his voice had gotten.

You don’t know if it was from rage or if he was just sick or if your mind was just playing tricks on you, but it sounded like he had growled at you after he had spoken.

‘Where was Ignis with that nurse?’ you thought to yourself.

He turned back to fumbled with his IV stand and the needle still in his inner elbow.

His legs were still shaking under his weight, you knew he was going to collapse on himself if he didn’t sit down. His legs reminded you of two thin and weak twigs still left on a tree during a bad storm, you knew they were going to give out soon. Something was on the floor too. You squinted and noticed that it was the feeding tubes and the oxygen mask, they had been kicked under the bed slightly.

Dread sat in your stomach, you noticed small cuts in the tubes and plastic and rubber. Someone must’ve taken them out for him… But who?

“Gladio, did some-”

You placed both of your hands on his exposed back and tried to turn him to sit back on the bed but he spun on his heels. He snatched up your wrists and held them in front of you. His face with in yours, his facial expression was enough to make your knees start to shake. His teeth were bared, his eyebrows were arched, he was breathing heavily.

But what caught you off guard were his eyes. They weren’t the molten amber hues you were used to seeing, no, these were something else. The amber colors had been swallowed up by an acidic yellow, his pupils were the smallest dots in such a sea of gold.

The door opened to reveal a crowd of people spilling into the room. Gladio let go of your wrists and looked up at the people as he gripped onto his IV stand to keep him up.

The nurse, Ignis, Clarus and the Marshal - you were guessing he was the Marshal at least - were now inside of the room.

Nurse nurse tsked Gladio and nudged you aside, she started to scold him about not pressing the call button and for taking out his feeding tubes and oxygen mask. She forced him to sit down, earning a grunt from Gladio as he fell back onto his bed. Ignis tugged you over to him, Clarus and the Marshal.

“He’s awake now?” Clarus questioned you.

You nodded and looked back at Gladio. You rubbed your wrists and looked back. Ignis eyed your wrists and looked at you unpleased.

“When did this happen?” the Marshal asked you.

His icy blue eyes made you shiver under his gaze.

“I don’t know. Ignis and I got in here and we saw him picking at his bandages and Ignis went to get a nurse.”

Clarus and the Marshal looked back at Gladio who was still being scolded by the nurse for the pile of bloody bandages on his bed. She turned to him with a coil of bandages and was about to wrap his arms when she saw that nothing was on them. She looked over at us and then back to the bloody bandages. She nodded to Gladio and unhooked him from his IV stand and from the heart monitor, allowing him to stand and limp over to the bathroom where he closed the door.

“Didn’t he have bandages on his arms?” she questioned as she looked at you four.

“He did,” you murmured.

“There’s nothing there…” she murmured to herself. She looked to the pouches hooked onto the IV stand and pulled them off. She excused herself and maneuvered past you four. “The doctor may want to have a word with you, Mr. Amicitia,” she warned before leaving the room.

“What do you think, Cor?” Clarus questioned the Marshal.

“I’ll have to question Gladio about it,” Cor stated.

“Gladio doesn’t remember anything,” you added.

“He has no memory of what happened?”

“No, he doesn’t remember anything that happened that day.”

Cor sighed and looked to Clarus.

“I’ll still question him. Until then, you two go home. I’ll let Ignis know if anything comes up and he’ll let you know,” Cor advised.

Not wanting to question the man, you nodded and followed Ignis out of the room.

Ignis didn’t say anything to you until you both were inside of the elevator alone. As soon as the doors closed, Ignis turned to you and lifted up your wrist. His eyes widened as he saw the fresh bruises forming on your skin.

“He bruised you again?” he murmured to you.

“It’s fine, Ignis, it was my fault,” you rambled as you pulled your wrist back. “You can say I poked the sleeping bear.”

“He took out his feeding tubes and oxygen mask?”

“I don’t think he did,” you whispered to him. Ignis raised a brow. “They were on the floor, it looked like they were kinda kicked under the bed and there were scratches on them.”

“Someone took them out.” Ignis bit his lip and looked at the worn down carpet in the elevator. “Do you know who?”

“No,” you shook your head.

“Do you want to ask the front desk if anyone visited him?”

The elevator doors opened revealing family members waiting. You and Ignis slipped past them and quickly exited the hospital and got inside of Ignis’ car.

“I think that if Gladio woke up to those down his throat, he might’ve caused more problems than just bruising one person by accident.”

Ignis gripped the steering wheel and looked back at you. He nodded and started the car, but he didn’t pull away.

“Look in the glove compartment,” he stated.

“Why?” you murmured as you eyed the compartment right in front of you.

“Because Gladio trusted me with this, so look in it.”

You slowly reached out and opened the compartment. Inside were some pens, some pads of paper, the booklets that came with the car and a box. Was it the box?

You reached out and took the box, eyeing Ignis to see if this is what he meant. He didn’t say anything, he just eyed the box and then to you. Slowly, you opened the top of the small black box and looked down. It was a necklace, sterling silver with a white crystal.

“What is this?” you murmured.

“Gladio got it for you. He told me to give it to you around now.”

“Why now?”

“Because around this time is a ball for the royals outside of Eos that is held at the Citadel. He was going to ask you, but given all of this, he knew he would have to stay at the Citadel with Noctis. He knew I would see you more often then he would, so he asked me.”

“He wanted to go to the ball with him?” you murmured.

“The ball won’t happen this year with what happened, but he still wants you to keep it.” You lifted the necklace out of the box and let it dangle in the air. “He still cares for you, you know. He loves you,” Ignis smiled.

You smiled softly at the necklace swinging left and right in the air.

“And I love him,” you whispered.

* * *

~*November 16*~

“I have that feeling again,” she murmured. “Something bad is gonna happen, I just know it!” she stamped her foot.

“Is it clear to you now, oh wise psychic?” another one of your friends mocked.

“Stop,” she whined. “I’m being serious!”

“Is it clear for you? Do you need a crystal ball? Some crystals?”

“Oh my God, stop.”

You eyed them next to you as you walked towards the front gates of the school.

“Do you know what it is this time?” you raised a brow.

“No, but I know it’s bad! Maybe just as bad as what happened at that club!”

As soon as you three entered the school, all eyes were on you. It was like everyone was shocked to see you. You swallowed and narrowed your eyes before sighing. It was like this ever since it had happened last month, everyone was turning to you and asking what happened to Gladio and… other things about Gladio…

You turned and started to walk towards the cafeteria with the two right behind you.

“Everyone’s giving you more attention now,” one of your friends piped up behind you.

“Yeah…” the other murmured. “What do you think is on their minds?”

“I don’t know, you’re the psychic friend. You tell us.”

“Oh my god, I swear I will smack you.”

You weaved your ways past the tables and chairs and crowds of people until you made it to your table. Ignis was there, his knee was bouncing, his hands were holding a can of Ebony and they were shaking. This wasn’t going to be well. Whenever Ignis was like this, things never go well.

Ignis’ sea foam green eyes met yours, worry laced his features. He threw his eyebrows up and allowed his jaw to slacken.

“Have you heard?” he questioned you.

“Heard what?” you narrowed your eyes.

“He’s back. He’s here! He was at the Citadel yesterday and… it was like he was fine, like nothing had happened!” Ignis rambled.

Something was wrong. Ignis never rambled. You could barely understand him!

“Ignis, slow down. What happened? Who are you talking about?”

“Gladio! He was there, at the Citadel! It was like what happened at the hospital didn’t happen!”

“And he’s here? But Clarus said he would be at the hospital for closer examination! They needed to know what happened to him and why he didn’t have any scars or…”

“He’s out. He was there and he acted like nothing had happened. He didn’t answer any questions from the glaives or guards…”

“Where is he now?”

“He’s here. Or at least I think he’s here? His car was here, but what do I know? I haven’t seen him and I even looked for him from classroom to classroom. I tried looking, but I got nothing. None of his teachers saw him, not the secretaries, nobody. I even checked the bathrooms.”

“What about Noctis and Prompto? Did they see him at all? Surely Noctis would see him at least.”

“No,” Ignis shook his head. “Noct hasn’t seen him at all ever since last night. Prompto hasn’t seen him since the club, or at least that’s what I could get off of Noct.”

“Did you talk his friends? Do they know anything about him?”

“They didn’t give me anything useful at all! Just things I already knew. Gladio was in the hospital, kept for examination, he is now out and his car is outside in the senior parking lot. Things I knew from the start.”

You looked around to see people eyeing you, murmuring to their friends while keeping visual eye contact. You shuddered under their sights.

“Should I go look for him or something?”

“It probably won’t do you any good. I say we just wait until we see him in any classes,” Ignis proposed.

“And then what? Ask him what happened? What’s going on? If he dodged around the glaives and guards last night, you know he’ll dodge around us all here in school.”

Ignis bit his lip and sighed. He set the can of Ebony down on the table.

“You’re right.”

You sighed and rubbed your face with your hands.

The bells rang, catching both of you off guard. The wave of teenagers had pushed towards the doors and spilled into the hallways. You looked to Ignis and watched him scoop up his bag and his can of Ebony and stood up. He was too frazzled to even push in his chair…

This really is something awful if it makes Ignis Scientia like this.

You followed right behind him until you were behind the wave of teenagers pushing their ways past the doors. Ignis and two fo your friends were in front of you, leaving you alone in the back.

A hand grasped your wrist and tugged you back, a gasp left your lips as you spun on your heel. There stood Gladio looking like how he normally looks everyday when he came to school: Hat on backwards, hands stuffed in his hoodie pocket and sweatpants and sneakers. He smiled down at you.

“Hey,” he simply said.

Hey.

Hey?!

Is that all he’s going to say is just ‘Hey’?

“Gladio-”

“I know, I know, I have a lot to explain to you and Ignis and everyone, but I don’t want to do that right now. But trust me, I will tell you, just not today. I promise, I’ll tell you and Ignis tomorrow for sure, just please hear me out now.”

You sighed and looked up at him with tired eyes.

“What is it Gladio?” you murmured.

“So let’s just forget what happened in the past month - not really, just for a minute - and let me ask you out on a proper date. No crazy clubs with drugs or alcohol or slutty teenagers, no monsters using me a chew toy, just you and me.”

You sighed once more and looked to the ground in thought.

“You promise you’ll tell me everything tomorrow?”

“Yes, everything tomorrow. Just not today, please (Y/n) just trust me.”

“Fine, fine you can tell me tomorrow… And I’ll let you know tomorrow too about the date.”

Gladio smiled down at you.

“Thank you.”


	5. Amber Claws

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:  
> Gladio doesn't have his (to quote Monica) "Green Day rip-off hair", instead, he's starting to grow it out into that horrible choice of a mullet.  
> This is senior year for you (the reader) and Gladio.  
> Ignis is your best friend.  
> Noctis and Prompto are freshmen and Ignis is a junior.  
> Gladio got his scar during summer protecting Noctis.  
> This happens right after the events from Brotherhood.  
> This switches P.O.V.'s whenever there is a ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~, not a split like this:  
> ~*~  
> The transformation was inspired by multiple werewolf transformations from:
> 
> An American Werewolf in London  
> Being Human (USA Version)  
> Hemlock Grove  
> The Wolfman (2010 Version)

~*November 23*~

Here you were, sitting on the same leather seat as you were one month ago. Your heart sat heavy as you thought back to one month before on this direct day when it had happened. You bit your lip, memories of the past dusting themselves off and playing before your vision as if they were old films dug up from the back of the theater. Gladio sat next to you in the driver's seat, hands firmly on the wheel and legs tucked underneath the small space. You questioned once more if he was comfortable with his long legs in such a small space in your mind, but you didn't ask. You simply toyed around with the necklace with your fingers, rolling the white crystal around and running your fingertips along the thin silver chains.

Gladio peered over to meet your eyes already on his face. He looked like he was cramped in this car, his shoulder hunched a bit and jaw tensed. His eyes even held that glint of uneasiness, he looked tired yet wide awake as if he had drank yet another coffee to stay up.

"Are you okay?" you asked him.

"I'm perfectly fine," he laughed. He shrugged, "I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I guess. I'm not feeling myself today."

His eyes turned back to the road completely absent of people. They were all most likely crowded in the malls and stores by this time to try and get great deals on things they don't need which leaves other things completely empty like the theaters. Two tickets sat before you for a cheesy horror movie the theater decided to bring back for shits and giggles. It was old, long yet corny. Perfect for two teenagers sitting in the back of the theater with a few older people and movie geeks sitting around.

The cold autumn air graced your skin as you two stepped out of the warm car. You tugged your jacket closer to your body as you looked to the sun still burning in the sky, slowly sinking and painting the blue sky orange. Gladio reached out and wrapped a rough hand around yours and tugged you along with him inside of the movie theater.

Barely anyone was working. There were only a few people lingering workers around doing things to occupy themselves. Taking inventory of the snacks, sweeping the carpet that doesn't need to be swept, restocking and refilling machines. You knew these few people here didn't celebrate the holidays today and they're only here for the extra cash. You didn't judge them, there's no need to judge someone who needs some extra cash in their pockets.

Instead, you smiled and held Gladio's hand firmly, linking your fingers in between his and sighing contently.

~*~

The theater room was dark, you could barely make out Gladio's form right next to you. You could feel his body heat and you could hear his soft breathing right next to you. Your hands and fingers hadn't move or unlocked at all, they stayed interlocked in the darkness of the theater.

You two were honestly shocked by the capacity of the theater as well. You two thought that there would people inside of this theater already, mainly old people or the people who really just love older movies from the 50's and such, but it was hollow. It was just the two of you sitting all the way in the back right below the projector's window.

And even when the movie had started, it looked like it came straight from the 50's. It had the black and white countdown, the grainy film and the scratches and flickers on the screen. The audio blaring out from the speakers even sounded muffled as it did back then.

Gladio hummed and rested the side of his head on top of yours, his grip on your hand tightened as he brought the back of your palm up to his lips for a scratchy kiss before resting it on his chest. You could feel his heart pounding against his chest. It was slow yet strong. It felt almost like it was right outside of his ribcage, beating against his bare skin.

Gladio hummed once more when you cuddled closer to his warm chest, tucking yourself under his muscular arm and pressing your nose to the crook of his neck. You took in his earthy scent, the faint hints of his cologne and body wash that reminded you of the cool sandy beaches of summer yet it still holds a crisp fall tone.

You placed a soft and gentle kiss to his throat and peered over at the movie slowly starting to make its way to a cheap jumpscare that was sure to scare and shock those from back in the day.

"These movies are so awful," Gladio chuckled under his breath.

"But they're classics," you hummed.

"I don't get how things like this scared people back in the day," Gladio scoffed with a smirk. "This movie scared my dad as a kid."

"Really? It's just a lake monster," you smiled as your eyes stayed glued to the screen.

"We have a cabin in the woods outside of the walls of Insomnia that we use for hunting trips. There's a big lake there just like that and my grandfather used to tease my father about a lake monster. So one night, my dad couldn't sleep and he went into my parent's room and saw they were watching this and he saw the lake monster drag the guy down into the water aaaand he was afraid of lakes and oceans until he like sixteen."

You laughed aloud for that, Gladio laughing with you as he threw his head back slightly. You also could've sworn that the person in charge of rolling out the projector film was laughing softly too.

You two (three?) fell silent and turned your attentions back to the film. Watching as the black and white trees swayed with the calm winds, watching the lake's water ripple and waves around and the animals scattering when the couple came out from the large wooden cabin wearing stereotypical clothing for the summer weather.

The man had his hair gelled back, his mustache trimmed and his pasty white body was only covered with a tight black speedo across his crotch. The woman had on a tight two-piece, the top was black with large white polka dots and the bottoms were and high-waisted, her hair was curled back with obvious ten coats of hairspray and her makeup was overdone and for some odd reason, she was in high heels.

You two (three? You weren't sure if the person operating the machine above you was watching this or not) watched as the woman laid down on the lawn chair and slipped on large sunglasses and a frilly sun hat as the man walked up onto the dock and dove right into the lake water.

You both watched and nearly died in laughter as the ranger came running in like an idiot as he nearly grabbed the woman by the shoulders and shook her, demanding that she leaves and stays away from the lake. She stuttered and tried to explain, but the ranger pushed her towards the cabin and told her to start packing.

"The fifties were a weird time where nobody listened to women," Gladio sighed as he sat back in his seat.

"Rodger's in the lake!" the woman cried as she managed to pry herself from the ranger's arms.

And just on queue, the lake started to ripple and an obvious fake plastic skull with meat glued on floated to the top, broke the water's surface and bobbed on the rippling water. And of course, the woman clasped her cheeks and wailed loudly. It all looked so fake. It was so bad that it was good.

"I love the pre-recorded screams," Gladio rolled his eyes in the darkness.

"Especially when you can see her jaw moving but the sound isn't," you snickered. You looked back up to him and noticed the shine on his neck and face, but didn't question it. "How was your dad ever afraid of something like this as a kid. It's so obviously fake."

Gladio shrugged and pressed his lips to the top of your head before tucking you closer to his body that was slowly rising in temperature.

"Well it was back in the day, they didn't have shit like this," Gladio murmured into your hair.

"You're right."

You looked back to the screen to see the town panicking as the woman was wailing and beating against police officers chests as she was sobbing uncontrollably. The townspeople were freaking out, pulling on her and asking what was wrong, but she would swat them away and beat against the man's chest more.

You were about to open your mouth once more to criticize the movie, but your phone buzzed in your pocket. You felt your pants for it, finding that someone was texting you quickly. You sighed, hoping that you weren't added to yet another ridiculous group chat. But you noticed something else, Gladio's phone was doing the same thing.

You both slid your phones out of your pockets to see multiple messages from multiple of your friends. Some were even coming from Noctis and Prompto. All of them were the same thing: Where are you? Are you with Gladio?

You only texted back Ignis, simply stating you are in fact with Gladio at the movies. You were shocked to see him text back so quickly.

'Are you wearing the necklace?'

You looked down and saw your necklace glinting white from the light of your phone. You grabbed onto the white crystal with one hand and replied with the other.

Gladio sighed and rolled his eyes before turning his phone off completely. You looked back to your phone and shrugged inwardly, following his actions before tucking yourself back into his waiting arm and nuzzling closer to his warm chest. You were still fiddling with the necklace but with both hands this time.

Your eyes slowly traced up Gladio's firm arm that he tucked around your shoulder up to his chiseled face and watched him stare off at the screen, amber eyes glowing brightly against the black and white film. He was entranced at the film, swallowing every now and again and watching his throat bob up and down before he would breathe deeply. He must really be into this movie or he's just spacing out completely, one of the two.

You pressed your head closer to his chest, you could feel his heart beating up against your cheek. Every pound was hard, loud in your ear as if you were sitting in the front row to witness a drum solo. Your fingers curled into the thick flannel he wore and turned your gaze back to the movie in front of you.

~*~

You felt like you were about to fall asleep in Gladio's arms. Your eyes were drooping and you were starting to yawn and everything. You were only staying awake for the scene that scared Clarus when he was so young, but it hadn't happened yet.

But you could tell the movie was about to end as the police were now searching the water with volunteers. You sat up when you noticed rippling in the water underneath one man's boat, noticing the dark shadows underneath the boat until...

SNAP

The monster reached up and snatched the man up by his ankle and yanked him and the boat under, the man screaming and wailing on the way down as the boat broke in his hold.

You sat up and nodded. You could see why a child would be afraid of the lake and ocean because of this movie.

You didn't even pay attention to the rest of the movie, instead, you turned your sights to Gladio who was looking at you with scrunched eyebrows.

"This was a bad date, wasn't it?" he smiled sheepishly.

"No," you shook your head with a small smile. "I liked it, I love it so far. I got to see a horribly good horror movie and I'm with you, so this is great," you smiled as you leaned in closer to Gladio.

Your fingers linked together and Gladio pressed his warm forehead to yours.

"I really thought some old people would be here so we could piss them off, but... that didn't happen," he smirked as he linked his fingers with yours.

"It's fine, I liked being alone with you though," you murmured against his lips.

Gladio hummed and pressed a soft kiss to your lips, holding your hands tightly as he growled into the kiss. He was so warm, warmer than he was before. Did they turn the heat up in here or something and you just didn't notice?

Gladio pulled away from the kiss but kept his forehead against yours, your noses brushing up against each other while he looked into your eyes. His lips curled up a bit.

"You wanna let this date go on?" he murmured against your lips, his hot breath smacking against your lips and nose.

"Why not?" you questioned back.

Gladio stood up and offered his hand to you. He nodded towards the exit of the theater.

"Come on. Let's go. We'll go to the park or something, just the two of us."

You gladly took his hand, allowing him to pull you up and out of your seat with the background music playing eerily. The flashing lights of the credits lighting his eyes up every time they turned white.

Gladio smiled and tugged you along, holding your hand firmly as he leads you down the steps and through the still empty theater until you two made it to your car. You shivered as he started it, rubbing your hands together.

It wasn't bitterly cold, but it was enough to send a small shiver down your spine once you walked out of the warm theater into the cool autumn night. Gladio cranked up the heater and pulled the car in reverse.

"So where are we going?" you questioned as you faced him. You noticed he was staring off into space, the setting sun behind you only illuminating his features. Were they sharper than before? No, it had to be the lighting. You reached out and touched his arm, shocking him and shaking his head. The car jerked around a bit as Gladio snapped out of it, his eyes wide and his knuckles white as he gripped the wheel tightly. "Gladio," you called, hoping to pull him out from the mist he was drowning himself in.

You were worried. Gladio was responsible, he was smart. He wouldn't put you or anyone else in danger. He was trained and taught to save people from danger. So why was he so distracted tonight? While driving especially?

"Yeah?" he scrunched up his eyebrows as he turned his head slightly.

"Are you okay? I lost you there for a second when you were driving."

Gladio rubbed his face with his left hand and looked back to the road.

"I'm fine, I'm sorry. I guess I was just staring into space again. I usually don't... do that when I'm driving..." he murmured to himself. He let go most of the pressure he had on the steering wheel just enough to let his pale knuckles revert back to their hearty tan. Gladio cleared his throat before looking back at you. "Did you say something to me? I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine. I was asking about where we were going?"

Gladio shrugged.

"The park? It'll be just the two of us there," he offered with a raised brow.

You tilted your head to the side a bit.

"Wouldn't it be closed, though? I think the city parks close at five on holidays or something like that," you countered.

"We can climb the fence," he winked.

You laughed softly, looking back ahead of you and watched as the streetlamps ran by above you both. You eyed the lack of cars and smiled. Nobody would be around the park, they would all be lined up by the storefronts waiting for them to open for awful deals on stuff they don't need.

Winding down the coils of roads, watching as empty houses flew by. You noted some of the cheap tactics some of the homeowners and renters used to keep people away in case someone wasn't taking part of the chaos that was Black Friday: Keeping the TVs on, keeping the dogs out of their kennels, music blaring, lights on. Some even sprang for fake bodies on the couches in front of the windows to keep people away. You laughed to yourself as you watched on from your seat in the passenger's side of the car. You could tell Gladio was looking around too as he had slowed the car down to look around.

Honestly, you couldn't believe how some worked, especially the ridiculous ones.

After a few minutes and quite a few turnarounds to see how your friends were prepared for Black Friday thieves (as well as stopping a few on the way), Gladio had finally pulled over next to the park. The chain-link fence caught your eye as you looked at the park past it. Gladio shut the car off and opened the door to get out. As you opened your door, you looked at the entrance which was locked up like usual. You noticed the multiple scratches, dents, and knicks in the steel lock. Of course, there would be damage on the lock, drug addicts and drunks knock it off and pick it so they can get inside and off of the street. You looked at the grand scale of the fencing, noting that it was way taller than Gladio.

Inside, everything looked soo eerie. The swingsets still rocking in the air, the jungle gym standing there, the slides looking like they could be housing something of the unknown (most likely a raccoon or an opossum or something).

You climbed out from the passenger's seat. The air was starting to get colder.

"Are you sure you wanna climb the fence?" you questioned as you closed the door behind you. "It looks a little too big."

"Do you want me to try and pick the lock then?" Gladio smirked.

You shrugged and looked back at him from over your shoulder.

"Maybe use your brutal strength to rip it off?"

Gladio scoffed and smirked at you as he strolled up to the fence gate.

"I don't think I'm that strong yet, (Y/n)," he smiled.

"Yet?" you laughed aloud. "It's worth a shot?" you cocked a brow.

Gladio took ahold of the lock and lifted it up with his left hand. He inspected it with the setting sun and turned it a few times in his palm before his right hand came up and clasped around the heavy square lock. He took a sharp breath before pulling, his body jerking as the lock popped off of the chains quickly. Gladio stumbled back a bit. He looked down at the lock in his hand in shock, his jaw opens and your jaw unhinged slightly. You were in complete shock, you two were baffled.

"Guess I don't know my own strength," Gladio mumbled.

As he dropped the lock to the ground, you quickly fished out your phone and turned your phone back on to see a stream of texts, missed calls and voicemails from Ignis, Noctis and Prompto. All of the texts were the same.

_Where are you?_

_Are you with Gladio right now?_

_Where did you go? You're not at home!_

_The necklace. Do you have the necklace?_

_Where are you?_

_Is Gladio with you?_

_Don't take off the necklace!_

_Are you wearing the necklace?_

You were tempted to text back Ignis and tell him what had just happened right before your eyes, but you decided not to. You decided to leave it like that and not question it (maybe all of that royal shield training made him strong enough to break locks with his bare hands, you wouldn't know).

But you were so confused by this point. What was the big deal with this necklace? You reached up and fumbled with it as you went to see the voicemails all from Ignis. You raised your phone up to your ear as you pressed on the most recent one.

"(Y/n), please answer me. Your phone is going straight to voicemail, but you need to answer me. Please call me, message me, something so I know you're alright. Your necklace. You need to keep your necklace on at all times. Please, keep it on at all times and never take it off when you're with him."

The voicemail suddenly ended. You pulled the phone away from your ear and looked down at the screen in slight shock. You swallowed as you looked back up at Gladio who dropped the long coil of heavy chains to the concrete floor.

"Ignis left you a voicemail?" he questioned as he nudged the gates open.

"Yeah..." You were about to start walking, but you stopped. How did Gladio know it was Ignis who left you a voicemail? "How did you...?"

"I kinda figured he would. He's getting jittery now with the full moons, he wants to know where we are at all times. Me especially since he thinks it'll come back for me or something," Gladio sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. He looked over to you and nodded towards the park. "You coming?" he questioned as he buttoned up his flannel all the way.

You nodded and walked right next to him inside of the park, following him as he took your hand and guided you through the park. The few streetlamps scattered throughout the park were barely lit up with dull, old bulbs. Some were even flickering and some were full of dead moths, flies, and spiders.

Gladio stopped and looked over to the sun still hanging in the sky. It was starting to set over the horizon. You knew as soon as it had set, chaos would stir up at the malls and at any stores that decided to stay open for Black Friday shopping.

Gladio fished out his phone and quickly turned it on. He ignored the messages starting to come in from everyone: His friends, Noctis, Prompto, Ignis, even Cor was texting him. You looked back to the sun and closed your eyes, basking in what little warmth the sun still provided until you heard music. You opened your eyes and looked over to see Gladio had his phone on a playlist. He tossed it onto a nearby bench and looked at you.

You smiled, nearly laughing.

"What are you doing?" you questioned with a small smile.

"What does it look like?" Gladio wiggled his eyebrows. He reached down and scooped up your hands in his rough yet warm ones before he tugged you closer to him. "Dancing with you," he smiled as looked down at you with warm eyes.

You couldn't help but laugh now. Your head tilted back and you were now chuckling in Gladio's hold. Gladio slid one hand down to your waist, pushing you forward by the small crook of your back until you were pressed up against his flannel button-up as his other hand fully cupped yours. Your bodies started to sway slowly, you both were not even trying to follow the already slow beat of the music, your bodies were swaying sower than the actual song. You placed your free hand upon his chest, feeling his heart beating strong against the skin.

Gladio hummed when you pressed your chest closer to his. He slowly leaned his head down until your foreheads were touching, nose nearly brushing against each other. The sunset made his eyes look like they were on fire, they were a bright gold.

A chill ran down your spine as you looked at them longer. They reminded you of the golden eyes you saw at the hospital those few days ago. But they weren't full of anger or of confusion or terror. They were warm and calm and full of love and passion. The really were the eyes of Gladiolus Amicita.

Your Gladiolus Amicita.

You hummed back, pressing your forehead closer to his. Your lips curled up into a sweet smile, he smiled back to show his perfectly straight and white teeth.

You couldn't believe he was yours, he was your partner. You couldn't believe you were there as his date to that party and here you are now as his date, slow dancing in the park after a terribly good horror movie with nobody around.

You moved the hand that was placed on his chest up to his neck, running your cool fingers along his warm skin. He shivered under your touch, looking as if he wants to melt back into your fingers. He hummed again, closing his eyes as you ran your hand up from his neck to his cheek, cupping it and stroking your thumb along the bottom half of his scar.

His hand that was holding yours retreated to cup the hand currently stroking his face. He lifted it away and pressed the back of your hand to his lips. His eyes peeled open, those golden orbs looking at you once more.

"Six, I love you," he murmured to you.

His warm breath hit your nose. A pleasant shiver ran down your spine as you pressed yourself closer to his body.

"I love you too," you whispered to him.

The music was barely playing loud enough for you to hear over the sounds of the cold autumn winds whirling in your ears let alone the blood pounding in your ears and Gladio's heavy breathing.

Wait... Why was he breathing so heavily?

The music had suddenly stopped. Gladio looked back in confusion, pulling himself away from your grasp as he turned to his phone. Taking note that nobody had stolen it, that it had just died, he nodded and looked back at you with raised brows and a sheepish smile.

"I guess that was kind of a mood killer, wasn't it?" he smiled down at you.

"I guess you could say that." You fished out your phone and offered it to him. "You can look through my music and find something slow we can dance to."

Gladio pushed your wrist away and leaned down, humming as he enjoyed how cool your skin was on this autumn night. He was warmer than usual.

Maybe he was coming down with a fever now? It would explain his temperature, dozing off and the fact that his heart feels like it was going to beat out of his ribcage.

"It's fine. We don't need music to slow dance," he mumbled against your lips.

"Gladio, are you feeling alright?" you questioned as you pushed him away from you slightly.

"I'm fine," he murmured to you as he pulled you closer to his heating body.

"No, Gladio, you don't look it," you mumbled back to him. You pressed both of your palms to his chest and tried to push him back. "I think you may be coming down with the flu, Gladio."

"I'll be fine, (Y/n)," he mumbled as he pressed his warm forehead to yours.

He was looking worse as the sunlight started to fade out the more the sun dipped below the horizon. The hot orange glow revealed more sharp features as well as a very light coating of shiny sweat pressed against his tanned skin. But he also seems... restless. You had just now noticed that his knees were lightly shaking and his right foot was tapping quickly.

What was wrong with him?

Gladio raised a hand to cup the back of your neck as an attempt to push your body closer to his, to move your face closer so he could kiss you. His fingers carded into your hair, sharp nails scratching against your scalp as his fingers weaved and twirled around your hair, tugging on the strands just enough for you to tilt your head back.

His warm lips ghosted over yours, his hot breath smacking against your nose. Slowly, he leaned down to press his lips to yours, moving the hand behind your head down to run his nails along the soft skin only to reel away. Your necklace felt hot, the chain on the back of your neck had heated up greatly, but not enough to burn you. Gladio waved his hand around and rubbed his index and middle fingers.

"Bad shock, I guess," he simply stated.

He placed both hands on your waist and pulled you flush up against him once more and leaned down to press his lips to yours. His lips were hot against your cold ones, his hands feeling like hot, heavy coals on your waist. Your hands came up and cupped his warm cheeks, your fingers slowly moving up to card into his hair and tugged on the thick chocolate strands.

A growl emerged from Gladio, it vibrated through you. He yanked you closer to him, his arms wrapping around your waist and clinging himself to it as if you would fade from existence if he were to let you go. You moaned into the kiss when he started to knead at your waist, fingers dipping into your skin and rubbing tight circles into your body.

He finally pulled back and rested his forehead on yours. You both were breathing heavily as you stared each other right in the eye. The gold in his eyes had faded as the sun continued to set. The sky was starting to darken from orange to purple to now a deep naval blue.

"You wanna come over to my place? I have more awful horror movies I can borrow from my dad's collection."

You laughed and moved your hands to cup his cheeks.

"I'd love to," you murmured to him.

~*~

Gladio closed the door behind you, casting the two of you in complete darkness. The sun was still setting, but the orange glow was nearly gone. You tried to look around in the darkness from where you stood, but you could barely make out any of the paintings on the wall let alone the furniture in front of you.

The light suddenly flicked on, your eyes squinting a bit from the sudden light. You peered around, amazed at the insides of Amicita Manor. It looked amazing inside, you really couldn't believe you were in here.

The couches were made of fine black leather, a black leather recliner sat close to the cobblestone fireplace. Multiple knick-knacks sat on top of the fireplace's mantle like a bottled ship, a purple crystal, some small statues and a small pile of yearbooks. You smirked, knowing you would find embarrassing pictures of Gladio in there (you would check later if you had the time). The coffee table was finely crafted wood, the same could go for the end tables. The lamps were thin, carved out of dark wood into smooth curves. The rugs were animal hides, anak hides mostly, one laid spread in front of the couches and recliner. Above you, the chandelier was shining brightly. The metal chandelier swung slightly in the air.

You spotted the dining room across the way and the bathroom right by the stairs to your right. From what you could see, they both looked amazing and better than what most could ever own.

Gladio came up behind you and grasped your hand gently before tugging you towards the stairs. As he guided you up the long stretch of stairs, you spotted photos of Gladio when he was young. You couldn't help but laugh at how adorable he was.

You stopped at one photo of him as soon as you got to the top of the stairs. Your jaw dropped and your eyes widened at the sight of a young Gladiolus Amicita.

He was so small and adorable. He had big amber eyes and such a small little nose. And his hair was so dorky yet adorable. He was smiling, some of his teeth were missing. His cute little cheeks looked like you could pinch them right through the picture. You couldn't help but coo at the sight of him.

Gladio stopped and turned around to spot where you stopped only to sigh.

"Yep, that's me. People would actually think I'm Iris because of the hair," he chuckled as he ran a hand through his chocolate brown locks.

"You're so adorable in this," you coo as you study the picture more.

Gladio laughed under his breath and turned to you fully. He walked up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist pulling your back flush up against his chest. You stopped smiling when you felt how sweaty and stiff he was. His lips ghosted over your ear, teeth nipping at your earlobe before he nuzzled his nose into the crook of your neck. His breathing was soft, hot breath hitting your skin.

Gladio tugged you back as he started to back up down the hallway. Gladio turned you around and captured your lips with his. Your worry was replaced with lust, your hands coming up to grab fistfuls of his flannel button-up and sank your nails into the thick red and black fabric. Gladio growled into the kiss as he backed you up into a wall, the pictures and paintings rattled and shook upon impact. Gladio's hands slapped on both sides of your head, nails scratching at the paint as he trapped you in his arms.

You moaned into the kiss when he moved his knee, placing it on your thigh and applying pressure to your skin. You yanked him closer by his shirt.

He bit your lip and tugged, trying to get you to open your mouth for him. You moaned again as you did as he asked, opening your mouth slightly and enough for him to slide his tongue into your mouth. He growled into the cavity of your mouth, his hands balling up into fists on either side of your head, crackling bones rang in your ear where your blood pounded. Lust made your eyes droop and lust guided your hands up to his face and cup it, leaving his flannel button-up alone. Your nails bit into his skin behind his jaw, sinking his face closer to yours.

Gladio laced one of his hands into your hair and held you firmly, his fingers wrapping around your locks to hold you in place as his other hand fumble around with the wall until you heard a doorknob clicking and the hinges of a door open.

Gladio pulled away for a split second only to press his lips back onto yours. He pulled you away from the wall and quickly backed you up into the room. You broke the kiss only to turn your head to the side, wanting to catch a glimpse of his room. He quickly occupied himself with your neck, pressing hot, sloppy kisses to your skin.

His room was a naval blue from what you could tell with no lighting. Hardwood floors were littered with sweatshirts and sweatpants and boots and sneakers. Trophies for sports and literature lined his walls along with ribbons and photos of Iris and his friends when they were younger. You even spotted his uniform for when he was on duty in the corner hung up on the open closet door.

You suddenly gasp when Gladio started to nip at your cool skin, his sharp teeth pricking the sensitive skin of your neck. A moan was caught in your throat as you tilted your head back. Gladio now had both arms wrapped around your body, lavishing your neck and exposed collarbones with kisses and nips as you two both backed up.

A shocked whimper left your lips as your legs hit something hard, your bodies toppling over and landing on a soft surface. His mattress.

Gladio hovered above you, not crushing you with his muscular body as he continued to press hot kisses to your throat. He slowly started to pull down the collar of your shirt, trailing steamy kisses to your skin and slowly started to make his way down towards your chest.

He was about to come back to your lips when he stopped moving.

You looked up at him with half-lidded eyes, watching his body tense up and his eyes slowly start to trail off from your body below him to the window behind you. You slowly looked up to see the full moon hanging high in the sky, only blanketed by a dark cloud that was slowly starting to peel off of it. You watched it with a hypnotic stare as the cloud slowly rolled off of the moon's curves, her crisp moonlight spilling back onto the world.

A ray of her moonlight had shined through the glass of the window and shined right onto yourself and Gladio.

You heard someone choking, and looking back down, you saw Gladio shaking while trying to back up and off of the bed. You sat up and watched him with worry in your eyes. Your mouth opened. You were going to say something, but that's when Gladio clutched his chest and fell over onto his side.

You gasped, covering your mouth as you quickly rolled off of the bed. You tried to kneel down next to his hunched over form, to try and offer him comfort and to see what was wrong. He was still yelling, screaming as he curled up into a foetal position on his side, his back to you. You could see his body was shaking and jerking around.

Was he having a seizure? Like he did on the ambulance?

Your eyes widened, jaw unhinging and hanging open. You took a step back.

The ambulance.

The werewolf, the bite on his shoulder, the full moon outside.

"Gladio," you whimpered shakily as you took another step away from him.

Your eyes stayed pinned to his crunching body. Your body refused to move, your eyes were glued to him. It was like a car crash, you couldn't look away from the horror unfolding right before you.

He clutched his skull, his fingers yanking at the locks of hair. You spotted his nails slowly peeling away from his cuticles before splitting apart as if his nails were wet paper. You watched as sharp claws started to protrude from the cuts where the nails used to be. His arms came back to his front, his legs loosening and allowing his boots to scramble against the hardwood floors, screeching every now and again.

His screams started to get heavier, the crunching of his bones became louder. You could see the muscles moving around through his flannel button-up. His head tilted up just enough for his shadow to reveal his teeth slowly growing into sharp fangs, his canines sticking out the most in the rows of sharp teeth.

His boots started to groan and creek in attempts to stay together, the rubber squeaking and hissing at the sudden lurches of pressure inside of the boots until -  _ **POP**_ \- the leather snapped apart and opened up to reveal his clawed toenails and cracking feet.

His back suddenly crunched up before loosening, allowing Gladio to be able to roll onto his back, revealing his golden yellow eyes to you and how they shined eerily in the bright moonlight.

He grabbed onto his head once more, yanking at his hair as his legs kicked out like he was trying to kick away all of the demons in his life. His claws scratching deep grooves into the hardwood flooring, wood curled shavings were left at the ends of their trails. He was yelling, crying out in pain... howling...

You watched on in sick horror as the flannel button-up became too snug on his growing form, noting the skin pushing up against the thick fabric and trying to break free of his clothing. And now, one by one, the buttons had started to snap off, flying in random directions until it finally ripped open and spilled to his sides, leaving only a thin and tight white t-shirt to cling to his growing size. You could see his ribs breaking apart and reforming through the thin material, stretching as you watched in disgust at the center of his chest: His heart beating against his skin and his lungs inflating and deflating, both organs stretching apart and growing to accommodate his soon-to-be size.

Fur was now starting to grow on his sweating body in thick strands. Gladio looked down at his own body in horror, golden eyes wide before his head shot back and he roared. It rattled the trophies on his walls and made his furniture shake. His legs were popping apart, spreading wide open and snapping. His boots managed to finally rip off from his feet, revealing only the balls of his feet and his toes that were still snapping apart and growing in length. You witnessed the heels of his feet snapping up and out, completely moving away from the balls of his feet.

His pants followed along with his flannel, the button cracking off and the zipper giving out as his belt popped off, the buckle nearly hitting you square in the face. The seams popped off one by one, his muscular legs ripping through the material with ease, leaving his legs and feet bare and exposed for you to see.

He looked back at you with pained tears in his eyes. His fangs were bared, his nostrils flaring, and eyebrows scrunched up. You saw everything on his face moving around quickly: Cheekbones protruding, jaw widening and becoming heavy with muscle and bone, ears coming to a point and his brow becoming heavy. He looked at you apologetically before wincing and smacking the back of his head on the hardwood flooring once again.

His facial hair had started to grow out from the sides of his jaw first. The hair growth was slow at first, matching with the growth of the fur starting to coat his body is ashen brown strands. It first looked like he just had hairy sideburns, then muttonchops, and now it started to turn into a hairy jaw beard. And as more fur covered his face, the red crusted scar remained bare of any fur.

But what made you want to gag was his face transforming. You felt your stomach churn at the sight of his mouth and nose slowly stretching out, lengthening and becoming a muzzle full of sharp fangs and a pointed tongue. A snarl escaped from his now black lips, saliva splattering everywhere as strands of it dripped down from the corners of his mouth. And how his ears slowly crawled up to the top of his head, all ashen brown and pointed and everything, you couldn't help but gag now.

His hair had grown along with his fur, but it stayed that glorious chocolate brown. It cascaded down his neck and pooled on the floor, blending in with it oh so well.

You had failed to realize that he was, in fact, growing in height. The man before you was so small compared to the size he was becoming now. His spine popped and crackled as his clawed hands reached up and sank into his thin white shirt and yanked on it. His shirt didn't hesitate to peel off in thin shreds, revealing a chest that was still slowly being covered with hair and fur. You didn't miss how the skin was gray underneath all of that fur and how his hands were practically the size of dinner plates.

His large hands moved from his white shirt to his boxers tightly pressed against crotch and hugging his waist. They practically exploded off as soon as his claws came into contact with the soft cotton, fabric falling off of his form the bigger he got.

He was bigger than the werewolf that bit him... Way bigger...

Gladio suddenly shot up, rolling over onto his stomach before pushing himself off of the floor. You watched on with a horror-filled face, watching as he slowly raised to his full height. His claws scraping against the wood as he shuffled to stand up straight, thick wolf-like legs moving about and pushing away anything in their path so he could stand up to his full potential.

You felt the color drain from your face as soon as he was now standing up straight, panting like a wild dog. He chuffed and snuffled with his new dog-like nose a bit before opening his eyes, the large golden orbs rolling forward and a thin pupil thinning even more once his eyes were fully open.

The moonlight faded, a cloud must be covering her light. You could barely make out the outline of his lumbering body right in front of you.

Gladio head slowly tilted back and his jaw unhinged, a low, heavy and loud howl rang from his throat and echoed throughout the empty Amicita Manor. His howl shook the entire place, pictures now falling in both his room and in the rest of the house as you could hear glass breaking and shattering below you. His howl tampered off and his head slowly lowered until his eyes landed on you: Huddled up against the foot of the bed, sniffling and whimpering at the sight of him.

You clutched onto the necklace, the crystal digging into the palm of your hand so hard that you could now feel blood starting to trail down the skin. You winced but bit your lip to hold back the whimper of pain. You tried to steady out your breathing, to try and calm your fluttering heart that was beating against your ribs a thousand miles per minute, but you couldn't calm down with a werewolf right in front of you. Not with it taking up half of the size of the bedroom and having to hunch over to stand up!

"G-Gladio?" you whimpered as tears filled your eyes.

One tear spilled, running down your cheek and landing on your knee.

That thing that was once your Gladio snarled at you, his ears pressing flat against his head and bared his teeth at you. With a snap of its heavy jaws, you whimpered loudly and backed up against the bed as much as you could. You grabbed onto the thick comforter for relief.

He slowly hunched down, his muzzle slowly coming closer to you. You saw the saliva dripping from between his fangs and onto the floor before you. You could smell his hot, rancid breath and you could feel his snuffling nose sniffing you.

With another quick snap of his jaws, you shot up only to fall over onto the bed. You cried out when Gladio came closer to you with one lumbering footstep. His black lips curled up over his fangs and snarled at you as you now had both hands fisting the thick comforter.

Gladio placed both hands on either side of you, his hands we so big, bigger than your head. His claws sank into the pillowy sheets and comforter as he slowly lowered his head until he stopped.

You closed your eyes, waiting for him to lunge for your throat...

But nothing came.

You slowly opened one eye to see he was looking at your necklace, his ears had curled outwards a bit. A soft growl emerged from him the more he looked down at the necklace until the moonlight started to fade back into the room.

Gladio seemed to snap out of it, a snarl ripping through the air as he snapped his jaws. He looked back up at the moon and lunged.

You choked on your own saliva and ducked down as quickly as you could, covering your head with your hands as an explosion of glass erupted from right behind you.

A high-pitched scream shot through you and you turned, being careful of the glass to see Gladio in front of Clarus and Iris who was now tucked behind her father who now had a shield in front of him.

"Oh Six," you whimpered.

You quickly shot off of the bed and raced down the stairs. As you flung open the front door, you nearly tripped when you saw Clarus with a greatsword in his hand.

"Gladiolus! Call the Marshal now! It's here!" Clarus boomed.

Iris whimpered and scurried behind Gladio's car as Clarus started to swing at Gladio.

"No! No don't!" you cried out.

Clarus spotted you running towards him. Gladio snarled and backed away before running off on his own two feet.

"Where's Gladiolus?" Clarus demanded.

"That was him," you whimpered as he clutched your shoulders.

Clarus' face paled as he slowly looked to where Gladio had run off to as he slowly let go of you.

"Six help us all," he murmured.


End file.
